Shock claim Brisbane made no offer to keep Lachie Neale amid speculation teammates have lost patience with AFL star’s ‘behaviour’

Lachie Neale has reportedly received no offer to stay at Brisbane amid speculation some Lions teammates could be losing patience with the star.

The 33-year-old is expected to join Collingwood after the season, with his playing future under scrutiny as Brisbane chase a third consecutive premiership.

AFL expert Caroline Wilson told 3AW the Lions had long anticipated his departure, initially believing he would return to Western Australia.

‘My understanding is that Lachie Neale was not even offered a deal in the end by the Brisbane Lions, because they’ve known from pretty much early in the year that Lachie Neale was going,’ Wilson said.

‘At first they thought he’d go back west, and now we know he’s going to Collingwood.’

Her comments come amid renewed attention on Neale’s marriage breakdown, following interviews by his estranged wife Jules and her former best friend Tess Crosley.

Wilson said Neale had not ‘done himself any favours with his behaviour’, pointing to developments surrounding his anticipated move.

‘The meeting at Collingwood, the reports coming out about what number he was going to wear,’ she said.

‘Obviously the personal life stuff has been tricky… posting stuff on social media on the day of games.

‘I just wonder whether, as good as he’s been this year as a player… whether it’s probably about time Lachie Neale found a new home.

‘I reckon there’d be teammates at Brisbane who are pretty much jack of him.’

There has been no public confirmation from either club of a completed move.

Neale delivered a commanding performance on Saturday night, collecting 42 disposals and 13 clearances as Brisbane demolished Adelaide at the Gabba.

The Lions won 21.18 (144) to 13.13 (91), securing a fourth consecutive preliminary final after kicking five goals in the opening five minutes.

They will face Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday, September 19, with a grand final berth on the line.

Jules broke her silence in a tell-all interview with influencer Adelle Petropoulos on her Pretty Sure podcast last month, detailing the devastating discovery that her husband had been having a four-month affair with her former best friend, Tess.

Tess subsequently gave her first direct interview about the scandal on Daily Mail Australia podcast The Debrief with Savanna Young where she discussed the affair, the breakdown of her friendship with Jules and the intense scrutiny she had faced.

In her interview with The Debrief, Tess addressed a number of persistent rumours, including allegations the friendship group had been involved in a secret swinging arrangement.

While stopping short of revealing intimate details, Tess suggested there was more to the swingers rumours than has previously been made public.

‘There was a lot of context that people don’t know… it was a friendship that just got way too close,’ she said.

‘Out of respect for the other people involved, I obviously can’t talk about their private lives.’

The mother-of-one also challenged another widely held belief about the scandal, revealing she and Jules were not lifelong best friends as many had assumed.

Instead, Tess said their friendship existed for only around a year before the affair detonated and sent shockwaves through both families. 

Meanwhile, Jules told the Pretty Sure podcast that Lachie had cheated on her with multiple women.

‘You kind of question your trust with everything and everyone at that point. It’s not a good feeling,’ she said. 

Jules also revealed there had originally been plans to keep the separation private and publicly characterise the split as a marital issue.

But she said that changed when she shared a cryptic social media post claiming she had been ‘betrayed in the most unimaginable way’.

‘I actually felt a huge weight of relief off my shoulders,’ she said.

‘It actually felt good to have people know, not exactly what had happened, but just the truth.’