Brisbane Lions Co-Captain Lachie Neale & Wife Jules Get Real On Fame, Family & Footy
meet the neales
By Natalie McGowan | 6th November 2025Fresh off leading the Brisbane Lions to another Grand Final win as co-captain, Lachie Neale and wife Jules front our latest cover, and in our exclusive chat, the couple get real on fame, footy, and family.
Before Brisbane, fatherhood, and a thriving career co-captaining the Brisbane Lions to the premiership for back-to-back years, Lachie Neale recalls the night he met his now-wife Julie. At the defunct Perth stomping ground, Club Red Sea, an 18-year-old Lachie worked up the courage to ask out a 21-year-old Jules – enlisting the help of then-Captain of Fremantle Football Club Matthew Pavlich as his wingman. “She told him she wasn’t that keen on a kid that looked like Harry Styles,” remembers Lachie.
Not quite love at first sight, but persistence and patience were his game plan that would eventually pay off. “He would do a six-monthly check-in on Facebook and be like, ‘Hey, how’s life? How’s your boyfriend?’” Jules laughs. “Then six months later he’d come back and try again.”
It wasn’t until years later at a Fremantle function Jules attended with her mum that the timing finally clicked. Their first date was set for that Friday night; three months later, they were living together; nine months in, engaged; and a year after that, married.
By then, Lachie’s star was already rising in the world of AFL, and speaking to him today, it’s clear that there was never really a plan B. Growing up in South Australia, Lachie remembers always having a football in his hands and idolising the Port Adelaide players (his team growing up). “I remember thinking, ‘this is all I wanna do’,” he says. “So I’m very fortunate that my dreams came true in that regard.”
Jules’ life looked a little different before Brisbane. A born-and-bred Western Australian, she built a career in hairdressing straight out of school and eventually opened her own salon in Mosman Park, restoring the old building herself alongside her dad in a true labour of love. When she and Lachie started dating, the salon was still in its infancy. “I remember one of the first times we’d hung out after we started seeing each other was when I went in to get my hair cut. I was nervous – all the girls were sussing me out. But that salon brings back good memories,” says Lachie.
In 2018, the couple made a life-changing decision – trading their comfortable lives in Perth for the uncertainty of Brisbane. For Lachie, it was a career-defining move that would eventually see him co-captain the Brisbane Lions and claim some of the game’s highest honours. For Jules, it meant saying goodbye to her beloved salon, her clients, and the community she’d built from scratch. Still, she says, “It felt right. We were ready for the next chapter.”
That chapter now includes two little ones – a four-year-old daughter (“She requests the Brisbane Lions song every car trip,” laughs Jules) and a ten-month-old son – plus all the chaos and beauty that comes with parenthood.
“Once you have kids, you play for different reasons,” says Lachie. “You’ve got a bigger purpose, and you just want to make them proud.” He admits balancing family life with professional sport can be tricky, crediting Jules as the stabilising force in the family. “I’m probably a little bit selfish in my habits, striving to be the best I can be, and Jules is very good at allowing me to do that,” he admits.
At this, Jules disagrees. “It’s funny when he says that, because I don’t see it as selfish,” she says. “Everything he does to be the best is for our family. That’s what lets us live this beautiful life. I’m super happy to let him do what he needs to do.”
When the conversation turns to success – especially off the back of the Lions’ second consecutive grand final win (“It’s a pretty euphoric feeling,” Lachie admits) – they speak less of accolades and more about the people around them. It’s a testament to their character that, even at the height of his career and recognised everywhere he goes – he was stopped numerous times on the day of our cover shoot alone – Lachie is refreshingly humble, and Jules just as grounded.
“Without footy, I wouldn’t have my kids. I wouldn’t have Jules. It’s given me so much,” says Lachie. “When I first started, I thought success was playing AFL, then winning a Brownlow, then a premiership,” he says. “But nothing ever really satisfies you. If you’d asked me when I was a kid, I’d have said what I’ve already achieved is success. But you’re always searching for what’s next. So now, I think it’s about the memories and the relationships you’ve formed. Those people are gonna be the ones who’ll still be there for you after footy.”
Jules’ answer is simple. “Relationships are success,” she says. “That’s what binds everything together – being a good parent, a good friend, a wife, a daughter. Without good relationships and good people around you, everything crumbles.”
Driven and grateful with an undeniable love for each other and their family of four, it’s this that feels like the real win for the Neales, beyond the medals and the awards.
Imagery: @katie.fergus
