Lachie Neale tribunal appeal LIVE: New twist as Lions star attempts to overturn grand final suspension

There has been a new twist in Lachie Neale’s fight to play in Saturday’s grand final.

The Lions could be forced to focus on Neale’s history of never having been suspended rather than contesting the intentional strike finding before the AFL Appeals Board, after reports that new vision had surfaced that is likely to be damaging to his case.

The previously unseen vision is said to show more clearly the Neale gut punch on Hawk Jack Ginnivan, which Neale had described as more of a body check.

The AFL and Neale’s legal counsel have been contacted for comment on the purported vision, from an optical tracking trial being conducted by Champion Data which involves 46 cameras feeding into a sophisticated data-capture system.

Lachie Neale and his teammates arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday to a mixture of Lions faithful, and media waiting to hear just what he’d say about the one-match ban set to rule him out of Saturday’s grand final against his former club, Fremantle.

The Lions confirmed earlier in the day that they would appeal the decision handed down by the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night in a last-ditch bid to free the superstar onballer to play.

Neale, coach Chris Fagan, and the rest of the Lions arrived shortly before 4pm to a sea of people. While Fagan greeted fans warmly, and Will Ashcroft and Hugh McCluggage posed for photos, the man of the moment, Neale, approached the cameras with his head down and face partially concealed by a yellow Bears cap.

He gave a brief statement to reporters, confirming the club’s appeal.

Welcome to our Lachie Neale appeal hearing live blog.

All eyes are on the outcome of the hearing which is due to start at 4pm AEST.