Geelong forward Shannon Neale has ditched the defensive mindset in his bid to limit Brisbane star Harris Andrews’ influence in the AFL grand final.
Feeling as though he’d let his team down in their previous encounter, in a round-15 loss at home, Neale shifted his tactics against Andrews in the qualifying final.
The 23-year-old enjoyed some success focusing more on his own game and the Cats reversed the result to take a direct path to the season decider.
But intercept king Andrews was one of the best-afield in the first battle and Neale is hell-bent on making further amends in Saturday’s grand final.
“I walked away a bit disappointed in my performance around how I played on him (in round 15),” Neale told AAP.
“I was a bit upset … I walked away kicking the dirt a bit about letting my teammates down.
“We couldn’t get it forward not because I was letting him intercept, but he was intercepting.
“I hate letting my teammates down and I hate being the one that doesn’t necessarily cost us the game, but someone that didn’t stand up when they needed to.”
Lions captain Andrews wasn’t allowed to have the same impact in the qualifying final as Geelong powered to a commanding 38-point victory.
Neale didn’t have a huge night offensively, tallying just six disposals and one goal, but played his role for the team.
“I got rid of a defence mindset on him and just tried to play my own game,” Neale said.
“I’ll try to do that again this week and hopefully our best footy stands up against theirs.”
While there is proof that plan can be effective, Neale knows putting it into practice is another matter.
“Harris has been a quality defender for such a long period of time and he reads the ball so well,” Neale said.
“He’s got ultra-long arms and he’s really strong. It’s hard to out-smart someone as good as him.”
