Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale successfully overturned his one-match suspension to play in last Saturday's Grand Final victory. Making it three flags on the trot for the two-time Brownlow Medallist and his Lions.
But the 33-year-old nearly missed out on the premiership after he hit Hawthorn forward Jack Ginnivan off the ball during the Preliminary Final the week prior.
Neale eventually had the ban overturned through the AFL Appeals Board. This week Ginnivan spoke about the incident for the first time publicly through his Ball Magnets podcast The Titch and Ginni Show! with former teammate Tom Mitchell.
"It was obviously probably blown up a bit," Ginnivan said.
"(Neale) hit me behind the play and I wasn't really expecting it.
"The week obviously played out. You never really wanna see someone miss a Grand Final I think for something like that.
"At the end of the day, I'd rather him play than not because imagine missing a Grand Final for a bit of a hit behind the ball. But I was glad to see him win his third flag."
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After the game Ginnivan and Neale exchanged comments on an Instagram post.
Ginnivan commented a cherry emoji, before Neale commented, "hope your tummy okay my guy x". However, the Hawks forward said it was all done in good fun.
"Me and Choccy had some words after it but I'll leave that to myself," he said.
"I saw him on Saturday night as well so it's all a bit of tongue-in-cheek from me and Lach."
