Lachie Neale has faced a monster media pack on arrival in Melbourne as the star Brisbane midfielder appeals his suspension for the AFL grand final.
Neale remains banned for Saturday's premiership decider against Fremantle after failing to argue his way out of a one-match suspension for a gut punch on Hawthorn's Jack Ginnivan.
The dual Brownlow medallist gave a short statement after arriving at Melbourne Airport with Lions teammates on Wednesday.
"Very hopeful that it's successful, but regardless of the result, I'll be here to support the boys and the club," Neale said.
"It's a big week for the club."
Following the 15-second statement, Neale was chased by cameras as he immediately left the Virgin Australia terminal.
Fellow Lions veteran Dayne Zorko conducted a press conference after Neale's departure, with the majority of questions focused on the dual premiership co-captain.
Neale was also the story of grand final week last year, famously overcoming a calf injury to play a second-half cameo in Brisbane's demolition of Geelong.
"Lots of scrutiny last year about whether he'd play, whether he wouldn't," Zorko said.
"(20)24 he had a broken foot, so we're used to it.
"It's a lot (the attention), but he seems to be fine.
"I sat next to him on the plane.
"He's just taking it in his stride."
To succeed at an appeals board hearing on Thursday at 4pm, Brisbane will have to prove the tribunal finding was either an error of law, an unreasonable decision, a manifestly excessive classification, or a manifestly excessive sanction.
"There's been 10 (gut punch) incidents this year, all of them have resulted in a week (suspension)," the AFL's footy boss Greg Swann told reporters on Wednesday.
"That was the third (tribunal) appeal and they've all been upheld."
At the end of a four-and-a-half hour hearing on Tuesday night, the tribunal decided not to enact the 'exceptional and compelling clause' to allow Neale to avoid suspension.
Why? For many reasons, according to tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC.
There was Neale's evidence, which Gleeson rejected as "inconsistent".
Neale insisted he didn't strike Ginnivan during last Saturday night's preliminary final.
"We have listened carefully to Mr Neale's evidence but we find it was inconsistent in key respects with what we saw on the video," Gleeson said.
Neale maintained his shoulder and chest made contact with Ginnivan; the tribunal found it was "a forceful blow delivered with a swinging arm and an open hand".
That's the guilty part. Next was what Gleeson described as "the more difficult issue".
Was using the exceptional and compelling circumstances clause justified to downgrade Neale's penalty from a ban to a fine?
Introduced this year, the clause had been deployed once: to downgrade a one-game ban to Collingwood legend and the AFL's games record holder Scott Pendlebury, to a fine.
But Gleeson noted Pendlebury was charged with rough conduct. Specifically, graded as careless conduct, medium impact, and high contact.
Neale was charged with striking graded as intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact.
Then, there was Neale's record, which his barrister - the AFL's former football operations boss, Adrian Anderson - compared to Pendlebury.
Until Tuesday night, Neale had never been banned in a 15-year career including two Brownlow medals, six club champion awards, and captaining the Lions to two premierships.
