Arabic version: نيل يستأنف إيقافه في دوري كرة القدم الأسترالية قبل النهائي الكبير

According to ABC News, Brisbane midfielder Lachie Neale’s AFL Appeal Board hearing is underway as he seeks to overturn a one-match suspension and become available for the grand final against Fremantle. Neale, a dual Brownlow Medallist, had his ban upheld by the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday over a striking incident involving Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan.

The appeal was heard on Thursday, two days before the decider, with Richard Loveridge chairing the proceedings. AFL counsel Andrew Woods KC and Neale’s counsel Adrian Anderson appeared at the hearing. ABC News reported that Neale was participating from a room in Melbourne.

The AFL sought to introduce newly discovered vision showing different angles of the incident. Woods described it as sharper footage and argued it should not be ignored, while acknowledging that new evidence is generally only admitted if it could not have been obtained through reasonable diligence or would have changed the Tribunal’s decision.

Loveridge decided not to admit the vision. Anderson said Neale and Brisbane were not challenging the grading of intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact. He argued the appeal concerned the Tribunal’s process in deciding that exceptional and compelling circumstances were not available for the one-match ban, and said the Lions did not understand why the footage had not been available for the earlier hearing.

Anderson opened Neale’s submissions by saying the central issue was that “one of the best and fairest players ever would miss the grand final, from a relatively minor offence.” The Appeal Board can consider claims of a material error of law, an unreasonable Tribunal decision, a manifestly excessive or inadequate classification, or a manifestly excessive or inadequate sanction.