Neale ready for AFL grand final, despite shoulder scare

Brisbane Lions football boss Danny Daly says Lachie Neale is “100 per cent right to go” for the AFL grand final against Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday.

Neale, who won a second Brownlow Medal on Monday night, sparked concern during the preliminary final win over Carlton when he appeared to be in pain following a robust tackle. However, Daly dismissed worries about Neale’s shoulder, which he has injured previously.

“No he’s fine, just a bit of a stinger,” Daly said.

“I think he just put on a bit of a show for the cameras to be honest.

“He’s turned up to the club today, he’s in good health. He’s 100 per cent right to go.”

Concerns linger over Jack Payne’s availability for the grand final, as the key defender is grappling with an ankle injury.

The Lions intend to provide Payne with every chance to recover, after he was forced out for the preliminary final, with veteran Darcy Gardiner stepping in for Payne and successfully limiting Carlton’s Charlie Curnow to just one goal.

Daly noted that Payne’s condition would be clearer after Tuesday’s training, but the final decision on his participation would be deferred until the main training session on Thursday.

“He’s pretty well done most of the training all year so missing a couple of weeks of football skills isn’t going to set him back too much, in fact it will probably freshen him up a bit mentally,” Daly said.

Despite former Lion Dan McStay, now with the Magpies, being ruled out of the grand final due to a knee injury, Daly insisted that the Lions’ selection strategy would not be influenced by the Magpies’ decisions or McStay’s absence.

McStay suffered the knee injury in the Magpies’ one-point victory over GWS in their preliminary final match at the MCG, with the marking forward set to be replaced by utility Billy Frampton, who has been the Magpies Mr Fix-it this year.

The Magpies will also be without vice-captain Taylor Adams, with the club ruling the tough midfielder out with a minor hamstring injury, which happened prior to their preliminary final.

Collingwood is a $1.75 favourite with online bookmakers to win the grand final, with the Lions odds at $2.10 to cause an upset. The line has been set at a meagre 4.5 to highlight just how closely these teams are matched on paper.

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