Racing
League
Rugby
Football
Cricket
Golf
Sport Nation
Olympics
Motorsport
Netball
Combat Sports
Basketball
Other Sports
FWC: FRA v SWE live on SN ExtraTrade talk: Neale’s St Kilda meeting “doesn’t make sense” to Cornes
Andrew Slevison • July 1st, 2026 9:53 am
St Kilda is set to meet with Brisbane’s Lachie Neale this weekend.
Channel 7’s Mitch Cleary reported on Tuesday night that the veteran Lions midfielder will meet with Saints coach Ross Lyon as he continues to weigh up his future.
Lyon coached Neale at the Dockers for the first seven years of his career.
“It’s my understanding Neale is expected to sit down with Saints coach and his former Fremantle mentor, Ross Lyon, this weekend,” Cleary said on 7NEWS.
“Neale is in Victoria to play Geelong on Thursday night and right now his future is a hot topic.
“The Saints are clearly in the ‘win now’ mindset as they attempt to bolster their list.”
The Lions take on Geelong at GMHBA Stadium win Thursday night before Neale meets with Lyon and Saints footy boss Lenny Hayes on Friday night.
In response to St Kilda’s reported interest in the two-time Brownlow Medallist and dual premiership Lion, SEN’s Kane Cornes and Tom Morris assessed the situation.
Morris feels that Neale, who has also been linked to Collingwood and to a lesser extent Adelaide, is well within his rights to seek a move elsewhere if he wishes.
“Lachie Neale is canvassing his future himself alongside his management,” Morris said on SEN Breakfast.
“He has called officials from other clubs this season to just see what the go is, whether they’d be even interested in taking him.
“This doesn’t mean he’s definitely going but it’s all pointing that way. I said from the very start the three clubs to look for are St Kilda, Adelaide and Collingwood.
“Adelaide because they need a midfielder and he’s clearly got connections to South Australia.
“St Kilda because of his connection to Ross Lyon and he’s an unrestricted free agent so it will just cost them the cash that they pay him.
“And Collingwood because they’ve shown in the past that they don’t mind picking up older players as long as it doesn’t cost them anything at the trade table.
“That’s exactly how it’s playing out, and Lachie Neale is doing a lot of this heavy lifting himself. You can’t blame him, this is the modern day.”
But Cornes finds this a strange situation given the Lions are in hot pursuit of a premiership three-peat.
“Can you blame him?,” he asked.
“How would Brisbane be feeling about this? Lachie is handling it in a mature way and it’s not affecting his performance yet, but this is rare air in that they are chasing three in a row.
“Now information like this comes out before a big game down in Geelong that his mind potentially is on a meeting the following day with a rival club on where’s going to play next year.
“They’ve been pretty good to Lachie Neale, and he’s been great to them as well. Chasing three in a row, it doesn’t happen often. Three in a row and you are immortal.
“Now we're not even nearing the business end of the season and he’s got a scheduled meeting with another club. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me from Lachie’s point of view.
“It doesn’t often come out that meetings are scheduled prior to the event a day after a big prime-time Thursday night game when you are chasing three premierships in a row. That is rare.”
Lions coach Chris Fagan recently commented on reports linking Neale to a possible move to the Magpies.
Fagan said it would be a “head scratcher” if Neale ended up at a club in Melbourne.
“I can’t imagine what Chris Fagan’s thinking. If he thinks it’s a head-scratcher that Neale goes to Collingwood, how hard is he scratching his head if he goes to St Kilda?,” Cornes added.
“With everything that’s gone on (splitting from his wife Jules) - to have success you stay at Brisbane.
“If it’s to be with your family you go to Perth. I can absolutely understand why Chris Fagan thinks this is a head-scratching move.”
After the Saints meet with Neale, they’ll meet Essendon at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
