AFL star Lachie Neale breaks his silence on marriage-ending affair

AFL star Lachie Neale has discussed his off-season cheating scandal for the first time during an appearance on Triple M’s Rush hour with Dobbo & Elliott.

The former Brisbane Lions player resigned from his role as captain in January due to the fallout from the affair.

“When it comes to your personal life and private affairs, you probably don’t think it’s newsworthy,” Neale told Ben “Dobbo” Dobbin.

“I get it in a way – captain of the football club and a public profile in a way – but it felt exaggerated.

“It was pretty crazy there for a while, but hopefully everyone will move on and it’s great to be back on their feet. I think that’s taken over the headlines and hopefully everyone can move on.”

He described the wait for the start of the AFL season as long and wanted the preseason to be over.

That’s likely because Jules first publicly claimed she was “betrayed” in December, in light of rumors surrounding the couple’s marriage.

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“I want to make it very clear that I am not involved in anything,” Jules wrote in a post on social media at the time.

“I have been betrayed in the most unimaginable way. All I can do now is heal and do what is best for my children.”

Then came the accusation that the betrayal was an affair with her former best friend Tess Crosley, who was married to Lachie’s partner Ben Crosley.

Tess has since deleted photos of her celebrating Brisbane’s AFL win with Lachie and Jules, as well as her husband, with Tess and Lachie’s knees touching.

“Take this away you idiot, you’re embarrassing yourself,” Jules later wrote under the photos.

When Lachie resigned from his captaincy at the club in January, he publicly apologized without any explicit confirmation of anything untoward.

“While I will not go into details, I can say that I have failed my family, and I apologize for my actions that hurt those closest to me,” he said.

“For that, I am very sorry.”

Lachie then added that he had to “accept” the consequences of his actions, but that he was focused on rebuilding trust with his estranged wife for the sake of their children.

Speaking to Dobbo, Lachie described the start of the year as a “challenging few months” but said he had “great support around me” and was focused on “being the best dad I can be right now” to the couple’s two children.

He also revealed that he gave up alcohol to improve his fitness and make sports his focus

“In a way it was a form of therapy to go and train and take care of myself,” he said.

“I didn’t drink at all during that period, I felt like I really had to struggle and limit my focus on my football and be there for my kids if I could.

“In a strange way it helped my football, I was able to focus on getting the most out of myself and making sure I was prepared.

“I felt like I had let a lot of people down, so I wanted to redeem myself with the way I came back in preseason and especially during the games.”

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