Brisbane Lions co-captain Lachie Neale has defended Joe Daniher after the star forward was accused of being selfish by North Melbourne legend David King.
King on Fox Footy’s The First Crack called out Daniher after Brisbane’s draw with Adelaide for not utilising his teammates more.
The dual premiership Kangaroo was particularly critical of one moment early in the game where Daniher took a shot from outside 50m instead of passing to Charlie Cameron, suggesting it “creates a model that says: ‘Each to their own’.”
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King said: “He’s the man every time the ball comes to Joe. ‘Can I have a shot?’, is the first thought.
“This happens every week with Joe Daniher. The amount of times I’ve seen Charlie Cameron burned by Joe Daniher with that sort of kick.
“If they were selfless, they win that game. But they’ve got one bloke in the forward line who’s a constant thorn in their side in close moments or big moments like this.”
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Responding to the criticism of his teammate on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Neale believes all players would have moments in games that could drive certain narratives.
“You can take bits and pieces from any game and make a case for whatever you want,” Neale said.
“There would be moments in a game where I was lazy on defence that hasn’t been picked up by the media. But you’d able to grab snippets of it and show it and say I let the team down in that instance.”
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Neal said the club’ “back in” Daniher, Brisbane’s leading goalkicker in 2024, to attempt tough shots, but thinks he was actually trying to pass it in the vision highlighted by King.
“With Joe, sometimes he can kick the miraculous goal — and we love that about him and he’s such an energy and spirit-lifter for our team and we back him in,” the dual Brownlow medallist said.
“I didn’t know that ‘Kingy’ had said anything until I went to the club today and I saw the piece of vision.
“I actually think in that kick — I haven’t asked Joe and Joe doesn’t watch any media or hear anything, he listens to what coaches and players say inside the four walls — it looks like he’s trying to pass it. So I’m not sure where he got the ‘selfish’ piece from.
“We know Joe’s ability and he can launch goals from 60m … sometimes you miss, but we back him in 100 per cent every time.”
Source Agencies
