LACHIE Neale's remarkable recovery to be fit for last year's Grand Final began with a couple of simple calf raises two weeks before the decider.

Neale had been ruled out for the remainder of the 2025 season after tearing his calf against Geelong in the qualifying final.

However, as the Brisbane champion recalls in 22 Days, he was given a glimmer of hope to return as his teammates were beating Gold Coast to advance to a preliminary final.

"That Gold Coast game, in the rooms, I did a couple of calf raises on my injured one," Neale says in 22 Days, the 2025 official AFL Grand Final Film, which will be released on Wednesday, March 4 on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live app.

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'22 Days' preview: How Lions turned QF failure into GF triumph

Watch the trailer for '22 Days', the 2025 official AFL Grand Final Film that features exclusive access inside Brisbane's remarkable premiership. Released on Wednesday, March 4

Published on Feb 27, 2026

"I probably wasn't meant to be doing that, but I did it.

"One of our S&C (strength and conditioning) guys walked past and said, 'You shouldn't have that function yet, pretty weird that you can do that, so let's run you tomorrow'.

"The plan wasn't to run for another five or six days. If anything went wrong, if I pulled up sore from one of those sessions, it was line through you (for the season) and not risk it.

"That's where it began."

Lachie Neale celebrates a goal during the 2025 Toyota Grand Final. Picture: AFL Photos

Despite concerns about his ability to play out the game, Neale would beat the initial diagnosis to be selected as part of Brisbane's 23-man team to play Geelong in the Grand Final.

In 22 Days, coach Chris Fagan explains his thinking in making Neale the team's substitute for the Grand Final, and we hear exclusive audio on game day of the coach telling Lions staff he was inserting Neale after half-time.

"I'm doing it," Fagan says.

"Why wouldn't we? We've got to win the game, mate. Can't pussyfoot around and worry about injuries."

Neale, who would go on to finish with 17 disposals and an iconic goal in the dying stages of the third quarter, conceded he had doubts that he would make it back.

"I was pretty steely, and felt really good about the impact I could have. But I was also the most nervous I had ever been," he says.

'22 Days', the 2025 official AFL Grand Final Film, will be released on Wednesday, March 4 on AFL.com.au and the AFL Live app