As the Brisbane Lions make one of the greatest gambles in AFL grand final history by playing injured skipper Lachie Neale, Channel Seven commentary great Bruce McAvaney says if he leads the Lions to back-to-back flags it will be “one of the legendary grand final stories”.

As McAvaney, who will anchor Seven’s grand final coverage alongside Hamish McLachlan, also warned if Neale went down injured the decision will “be talked about forever”, Neale himself said he was not sure if he would last the whole game or if he would start as the sub.

Neale’s seemingly miraculous recovery from a calf tear in Brisbane’s qualifying final loss to Geelong three weeks ago — that he said himself had ended his season at the time — has been the dominant talking point of the grand final build-up.

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