Reigning Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale believes he is starting to return to his best after a back issue hampered him in the first month of the season.
After a slow start, he was back to his best in Brisbane’s 57-point win over Essendon, picking up 38 disposals and kicking two goals.
Neale admits the back issue has frustrated him so far this season.
“To be honest, I probably wasn’t able to compartmentalise the issue as well as I have with other issues in the past and to be brutally honest I let it affect my mindset and psyche throughout the week and then wasn’t able to deliver on the weekend,” the Lions star told SEN Breakfast.
“It’s a small sample size, but I thought I was able to do that through the week a lot better and go out and play my role on the weekend. A step in the right direction but I’ve got to back it up now.”
“It’s been debilitating enough that I haven’t been able to train anywhere near as much as I would like and then on game day I’ve felt pretty good, I’ve obviously had some help medically to get through some games, but once I put my hand up and once I’m out there I don’t feel that sort of stuff.
“I’ve had issues in the past and been able to work through them better than I have in the last few weeks. There’s no excuse, I just haven’t performed.”
Neale says he is starting to return to normal programming during the week.
“I’m getting better every week definitely in terms of pain and last week I was able to do training basically for the first time in a while,” he said.
“I’ve still got some recovery to go, but I’m feeling a lot better than a few weeks ago so I think I’m over the hump.”