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79-year first: Lachie Neale's legendary footballing feat
Jaiden Sciberras • September 29th, 2025 2:30 pm
Lachie Neale has entered extremely rare air following his second Grand Final triumph.
Captaining his Brisbane Lions side to back-to-back premierships, 32-year-old Neale becomes one of just two players in AFL history to achieve a feat none have managed to attain since 1946.
Having captained two V/AFL premiership wins, Neale becomes the first player since Essendon legend Dick Reynolds to win both multiple Brownlow Medals and multiple premierships as club captain in AFL history.
Reynolds, who featured for the Bombers from the 1930’s into the early ‘50’s, won three Brownlow Medals including two consecutive nods in 1937 and 1938, captaining his side to four premierships in 1942, 1946, 1949 and 1950.
Neale becomes the only player within the AFL era to achieve the feat, captaining the Lions to back-to-back premierships while claiming two Brownlow Medals in 2020 and 2023.
To add to his resume, Neale claimed the Gary Ayres Medal for best player in a finals series throughout Brisbane’s 2024 drought-breaker, while also becoming the second player behind Sydney’s Braeden Campbell to start as the substitute in multiple Grand Finals.
With four All-Australian blazers, six club best and fairests, an AFLPA MVP, an AFLCA Player of the Year and 225 total Brownlow votes to this point (equal-fifth all time), there isn't much that Neale hasn't achieved within his time in the AFL.
Given his elite resume up to this stage in his career, has the superstar midfielder done enough to secure Legend status upon entry into the Football Hall of Fame?
One of the game's great names certainly believes so.
“The great Bruce McAvaney said to me after the game, ‘I think he’ll be a Legend now, Lachie’,” Kane Cornes told SEN Fireball.
“Hard to argue now. Dual premiership captain, dual Brownlow, All-Australians and best and fairests coming out of his you-know-what…
“Is he going to be a legend in the Hall of Fame?”
“His resume would suggest so at this point,” Josh Gabelich said.
Outside of Lachie Neale, young gun Will Ashcroft also completed an extremely rare feat on Saturday afternoon, becoming just the third player in AFL history to win back-to-back Norm Smith Medals.
“I’ll throw a different one at you,” David King added.
“Will Ashcroft is now a two-time Norm Smith, two-time premiership player. He is 21.
“He could have the poorest career from here on in… say he just has an average career from here on, and they don’t add to the premierships. Would he be Hall of Fame?
“Two-time Norm Smith… he’d be stiff to miss!”
Cornes: “He’d be a bit stiff, when only three people have done it! Dusty (Martin) and (Andrew) McLeod, back-to-back…”
Between Will, Levi and father Marcus, the Ashcroft family have now combined for six premierships.
