“Changing of the guard”: Neale commends young Lion after “unbelievable” Semi Final performance

Brisbane Lions co-captain and two-time Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale has expressed gratification for his midfield contingency following the Lions’ miraculous come-from-behind victory over the Giants.

Copping a hard tag from GWS’ Toby Bedford, Neale was unable to have his general impact on the contest, however the likes of Will Ashcroft, Jarrod Berry and Hugh McCluggage stepped up in a major way, particularly in the final term.

In particular, Neale was delighted with 20-year-old Will Ashcroft, who played a major role in turning momentum in Brisbane’s favour.

The young star finished with 27 disposals, 10 score involvements, nine clearances and five tackles in just his second ever September appearance.

“It’s unbelievable what he’s been able to do since coming back,” Neale told SEN Breakfast.

“I think he was, and he’d probably admit himself, a little bit frustrated with his form when he first returned (from injury).

“I feel like I had some great conversations with him early on, he was always going to have a slow build and I was saying to him probably four to six weeks ago that ‘what we want from you is to build and be ready for finals’ and the last four to six games in terms of his own form didn’t really matter.

“He just needed to get some run in his legs, get his touch back and I reckon the last two or three weeks of the home and away season you started to see that that was coming back to him.

“On the weekend it all came together for him, him and Jarrod Berry were probably our two most important midfielders in that game.

“He’s so clean, he’s so driven and throughout that second half he was really confident in what he was doing and was telling me and Oscar (McInerney) and ‘Hughy’(Hugh McCluggage), letting us know that he wanted the task of being go-to, and getting the ball in his hands.

“I love that confidence from him. In a way for me, it sort of felt like the changing of the guard a little bit, him and Hugh and Jarrod starting to come on so well.

“I’m getting a little bit old now, I’ll be 32 next year and I’m sure next year I reckon we’ll see some of those taggers go to those guys, Will in particular coming on so well and I thought Hughy showed so much composure and his ball use is first class, and Jarrod broke the game open a couple of times in that last quarter too.”

The co-captain was also complimentary of key forward Joe Daniher, who kicked two goals in the final term to put the Lions ahead just minutes before the final siren.

“Joey’s a ripper,” he continued.

“I think behind the scenes you probably see that he cares more than anyone about winning, and last year he was probably the most devastated after the Grand Final.

“He’d played his heart out that day, he was probably our best player and once again he stood up in massive moments on the weekend and got the job done for us.

“I’ve got so much respect for the way he goes about it, he does it his own way but it works for him, he might not watch a lot of footy, I don’t think he watches any game but he watches a lot of vision of the players he’s going to be playing against, prepares really well and he cares so much about winning, I love that about Joe.”

The Lions will look to carry their strong momentum into the weekend as they take on Geelong in the Preliminary Final at the MCG this Saturday.

They are out to avenge last season's narrow Grand Final loss to Collingwood.