[1] He previously played for the Fremantle Football Club from 2012 to 2018 before being traded to the Brisbane Lions in 2019, where he captained a premiership in 2024 and won the Brownlow Medal in both 2020 and 2023.

[4] Nicknamed "Cowboy" after Kevin Neale, he played various junior sports in Naracoorte, including basketball, soccer, cricket and football.

He kicked 8 goals for the year as his team won the under-14 KNTFL premiership alongside future AFL player Jack Trengove.

[7] Neale continued playing for Kybybolite and then received a scholarship to attend St Peter's College, Adelaide.

Despite Glenelg losing to Port Adelaide, he gathered 40 possessions and was awarded the Alan Stewart Medal as the best player in the game.

[15][16] After playing two games for Swan Districts in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), Neale made his debut in round 4 of the 2012 AFL season against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium[11][17] as the substitute.

[25] Neale had an excellent start to the 2020 season, with him being deemed the best player in the league by the ABC's Dean Bilton prior to round 6.

[26] Neale won the 2020 Brownlow Medal after polling 31 votes during the shortened regular season, including being best-on-ground in ten matches.