Brisbane Lions star Lachie Neale ticks another box in his quest to play in Saturday’s AFL grand final

Lions star Lachie Neale has inched his way closer to AFL grand final selection after completing Brisbane’s training session on Tuesday at Springfield. Having torn his calf less than three weeks ago in the Lions’ qualifying final loss to Geelong, Neale wasn’t expected to play again this year. However, the dual Brownlow medallist is on track to make a miracle recovery and line up against the Cats in Saturday’s decider at the MCG. Neale ran laps of Brighton Homes Arena before joining the rest of his teammates for the hour-long open session in front of about 2000 Brisbane fans. The Lions co-captain seemed untroubled as he went through kicking and handball drills while taking sidesteps and regularly changing direction. However, for Neale to have the chance to play in a third successive grand final, he must get through what will be a tougher training session in Melbourne on Thursday. Neale isn’t the only Lion hoping to defy injury to play on Saturday, with wingman Jarrod Berry also training on Tuesday despite dislocating his shoulder for the second time in five weeks in Brisbane’s weekend preliminary final win over Collingwood. In his unlikely bid to play this weekend, Berry trained separately from the main group. Speaking to the ground announcer, Berry joked that he had been receiving massages from Oscar McInerney, who missed Brisbane’s grand-final win last year over Sydney with a dislocated shoulder of own. McInerney, who has overcome concerns over his body to be fit to play on Saturday, was confident the club’s medical department would make the right calls on whether Neale and Berry would be available for selection. “They (Neale and Berry) will keep trying to do what they’ve got to do, and we’ll see how they go,” the towering ruckman said. “‘Bez’ (Berry) is an incredible person, and he’s always got a smile on his face, and he’ll keep ticking all the boxes and working on it. “(Lachie) is our captain … those guys will look after themselves and do a really good job to give them the best opportunity (of playing) “As players, our job is not to look too far ahead and just do what we’ve got to do day to day to get ready.” McInerney tried to play down his own potential fairytale of being part of a winning grand-final team after his misfortune last season. “Last year’s irrelevant, to be honest. Every year we set out to try to go as deep as we can, and we’ve given ourselves an opportunity this year, and I’m just excited to be a part of it,” he said. “It’s been a different year compared to previous years, but one thing ‘Fages’ (Lions coach Chris Fagan) drilled into us is just taking it week by week and sticking to your process. “I’ve really enjoyed that this year, just pounding the rock and trying to get better every week. “I’ve, luckily enough, found myself back in the team.”