‘Let my family down’: Lachie Neale breaks silence, makes personal reveal after captaincy call

Lachie Neale has broken his silence after relinquishing his Brisbane co-captaincy, stating he’s “deeply sorry” for his off-field indiscretions and pledged to “do the work on myself”.

Lions players were informed early on Friday the superstar midfielder would be vacating the position amid a “challenging personal period”, per the club.

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Neale is going through a difficult stint in his personal life with wife Jules no longer following him on social media and recently posting about being “betrayed”.

The 32-year-old on Friday confirmed he and Jules “have now separated”, fronting up to Brisbane media with a prepared statement.

“I understand the interest in my personal life, but these are personal matters, and I won’t be answering any questions on that topic today,” he began.

“I can confirm, though, that with regret, Jules and I have now separated.

“While I won’t go into specifics, I can say that I have let my family down, and I apologise for my actions, which have hurt those closest to me — and for that, I am deeply sorry.

“I accept that this is a consequence of my actions, and I need to focus on rebuilding that trust with Jules as the future wellbeing of our children remains our number one priority.

“I’m extremely disappointed in myself, and I have put plans in place and measures in place to do the work on myself so that I can be the best version of myself moving forward.

“Given the personal matters that I am currently working through, I have made the decision to stand down as co-captain and from the leadership group, effective immediately.

“Having been a leader and captain of the Lions has been an honour, but it’s time for the club to move forward with a fresh start.

“I spoke through this with the club over the last week or two with Danny (Daly) and with ‘Fages’ (Chris Fagan), and it was a pretty easy decision for me, and time to move on and let someone else or Harris do the job by himself.”

Asked if it was completely his decision or if there’d been stronger input from higher-ups, Neale said: “No, it was 100 per cent my decision.

“To be honest, I’ve probably thought about it (the captaincy) the last 12 months. I’m 32, about to be 33, and we’ve got a great crop of young leaders coming through.

“I actually first brought it up with Fages probably 12 months ago now, so, yeah, my decision.”

Probed on his teammates’ reaction to his decision, Neale said they hadn’t known for long at all.

“Well, they probably only found out about an hour ago, so I’m not sure yet,” he said.

The 294-gamer is set to come out of contract and become a free agent at the end of next season, with his current personal situation — and exit from the leadership group — opening the door to some doubt over his future in the sunshine state.

“I haven’t really considered that (a call on his future) yet,” he said.

“I think my decision was always going to be put on hold with my contract regardless.

“So, we’ll work that out over the next six months basically, so we’ve got a bit of time.”

Neale’s call comes just three months after the superstar midfielder returned from a calf injury to help lead the Lions to their second-straight premiership in the sub role.

It currently leaves star key defender Harris Andrews as the club’s sole captain, with Brisbane set to choose between electing a replacement co-captain or leaving Andrews to steer the ship at Springfield ahead of the new season.

Star midfielders Hugh McCluggage and Josh Dunkley were the club’s two vice-captains last season.

“The Brisbane Lions confirm Lachie Neale has made the decision to stand down as Co-Captain, effective as of today,” a club statement read earlier on Friday.

“Neale has shared the role alongside Harris Andrews for the past three seasons – guiding the Club to three Grand Finals and back-to-back premierships.

“The 32-year-old determined this was the best move for him and the Club following a challenging personal period.”

Neale won the Brownlow Medal in 2020 and 2023 and finished top-three in 2019 and 2022. The uncompromising ball-winner is also a four-time All-Australian.

Lions players and staff remain away from the football club until next week as they continue on their Christmas break.