Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
"Biggest risk ever taken": Pendles should act as warning for Neale
SEN • September 22nd, 2025 9:57 am
Collingwood veteran Scott Pendlebury being forced out of the side's preliminary final should act as a warning sign for the Lions when it comes to whether Lachie Neale plays in the Grand Final this weekend.
Kane Cornes says naming the Brisbane superstar would be "the biggest Grand Final risk a team has ever taken" given his calf injury.
Just four minutes into the Pies' eventual heartbreak at the MCG, Pendlebury was subbed out with what the club described as "calf tightness".
However, the veteran was seen with a heavy limp and it then emerged he had been struggling before the game.
So should he have started? Or should the club have withdrawn him last minute?
David King and Cornes debated Collingwood's decision to play their former skipper with the latter suggesting his early breakdown should act as a warning sign for Chris Fagan and the Lions ahead of Saturday's Grand Final showdown with Geelong.
"For them to say it’s calf tightness (for Pendlebury), it’s not," Cornes said on SEN Fireball.
"You don’t get subbed out within four minutes with calf tightness. He’s pinged his calf, he was limping, you don’t limp with tightness. I don’t think that was fully transparent, there’s no way he would have played this week if they had won.
"You leave it (the decision) with him (whether he plays) but it’s the same thing with Lachie Neale this weekend, it would be the biggest Grand Final risk a team has ever taken.
"Equal to that Phil Davis (with GWS in 2019) and how did that go? Not well, no good and that’s my point.
"It’s ridiculous we’re talking about it. I admire Lachie for having a crack, but it would be an extraordinary decision."
Neale's season looked over after he injured his calf during the qualifying final loss to the Cats on September 5, but the two-time Brownlow Medallist is adamant he is a chance for this weekend's big dance.
Speaking after his side's 29-point victory over Collingwood, Neale suggested he's not only a chance, but is likely to play.
"I tested that today and it went really well. Hopefully Fages picks me," Neale said.
"It is exciting ... but there are still a couple of hoops to jump through and I have to get the old boy to pick me, too. So I have to get in his ear pretty early in the week.
"I've ticked every box so far I've had to. I will train as normal next week."
