An AFL great has called on the umpiring department to protect the “marquee” players in the competition after Lachie Neale became the latest star to cop some heavy, off the ball attention.
It comes just a week after Port Adelaide superstar Zak Butters complained about “a bit of stuff off the ball” that he would “let the AFL look at” in his side’s victory over the Western Bulldogs, where he dealt with considerable attention from the opposition.
North Melbourne champion David King showed some footage from the Lions’ narrow victory over the Eagles in round 18 on Fox Footy’s First Crack, which highlighted how the Eagles were dealing with Neale at stoppage.
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“I’ll tell you what’s happening to him, the ‘Lachie Lasso’ he is getting grabbed at every stoppage,” King began.
“So far this year, he’s been given four free kicks for being held in stoppage. It happened all day today and I couldn’t stop watching it. It happens every week, the club don’t complain about it because they understand, ‘we’re not going to get a result if we whinge’.”
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At one stoppage, King’s vision clearly showed Neale’s left arm being held by Eagle Tim Kelly and in another clip, Kelly had both arms held, forcing Neale into a mid-air swing kick.
“Look at this, you shouldn’t be able to get away with this, we’ve got 100 umpires out there and no one sees this. No one sees the arm wrapped around, look at this, he almost skis him into the stoppage. Look at that, how do you not see that?” King continued.
“If that’s a defender on a forward it gets paid every day,” St Kilda champion Leigh Montagna added.
King implored the AFL and its umpiring department to “get this right” in order to let the stars of the competition continue to thrive.
“What’s the difference? These are marquee players; we’ve got to let the marquee players attack the game and be able to play. If you want to tag them, it’s against the odds that you get the job done, holding and grappling should not be part of your weaponry and I hope the umpires wise up to this,” he said.
“I think Neale’s the one who is paying the biggest price – four free kicks for the year – how many stoppages do you think he’s been in for the year? It would’ve been thousands. That’s wrong, I think we need to look at this. I’m putting it on the umpires to get this right.”
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Despite the opposition attention, Neale was at his brilliant best against West Coast, amassing 34 disposals, 13 clearances and two goals.
Champion Data rates him as the third highest ranked player throughout the competition since round 10 and his form has been a key factor into Brisbane’s resurgence up the AFL ladder.
The Lions currently sit in fourth spot with a record of 10-6-1 ahead of a mouth-watering clash against premiership favourites Sydney in round 19.
The Swans could utilise former Demon James Jordon in a tagging role on Neale if desired.