Veteran AFL reporter Caroline Wilson has criticised Jules Neale and Tess Crosley for publicly sharing details of the fallout from the Lachie Neale affair scandal in separate podcast interviews.
Speaking on Channel Seven's Agenda Setters on Monday, Wilson expressed bewilderment at the decision by both women to discuss such intimate details about their private lives.
Jules, 36, appeared on influencer Adelle Petropoulos's Pretty Sure podcast last Wednesday. She detailed discovering that her estranged husband, Brisbane Lions player Lachie Neale, had been having a four-month affair with her former best friend, Tess.
Tess, 30, subsequently gave her first direct interview on the Daily Mail Australia podcast The Debrief with Savanna Young. She discussed the affair, the end of her friendship with Jules, and the intense public scrutiny she has faced.
Wilson addressed the interviews during her regular Caro's Call segment. "Jules Neale and Tess Crosley both gave so-called tell-all interviews last week on the eve of the AFL finals campaign - a campaign in which Jules Neale's estranged husband Lachie is expected to feature heavily," she said.
Caroline Wilson podcast criticism
The sports journalist stated she had consumed both interviews for her segment.
"For the purposes of this 'call' I watched, read, listened to both of these interviews and I cannot understand why either woman chose to do it, who is advising them and what they thought it would achieve," Wilson said.
Wilson emphasised she was not passing judgement on the claims made by either woman.
"I make absolutely no comment on the deeply private details that went so very public last week with all that extraordinary influencing detail," she said.
"Nor do I have any clue on whether this will affect Lachie Neale or whether I care whether it affects Brisbane's finals campaign. Nor do I have any particular sympathy for Lachie Neale at this stage. Nor am I taking sides in any way at all," she added.
However, Wilson questioned why the women had chosen to communicate in this manner. "But I say again to these two women, who by increments last summer broke the story themselves on social media of this big marriage break-up - why, in an era where social media and their hits reign supreme, why they chose to communicate their private lives in this way," she said.
Secret swinging arrangement rumours
In her interview on The Debrief, Tess addressed persistent rumours that the friendship group had been involved in a secret swinging arrangement.
While stopping short of revealing intimate details, she suggested there was more to the speculation than had been made public.
"There was a lot of context that people don't know... it was a friendship that just got way too close," she said.
"Out of respect for the other people involved, I obviously can't talk about their private lives," she added.
Tess, a mother of one, also challenged the assumption that she and Jules were lifelong best friends. She stated their friendship had only existed for about a year before the affair detonated and sent shockwaves through both families.
Beau paternity speculation
Tess explained that a cruel online rumour ultimately convinced her to speak out. Speculation had circulated for months that Neale was secretly the father of her son, Beau.
While accepting responsibility for her part in the affair, she vehemently denied the paternity claim.
"I just had a point where I was like, 'Don't bring my child into this. That is 100 per cent a rumour,'" she said, adding: "There's no truth to it at all."
Tess also claimed that she was "lovebombed" by Lachie during the affair and that she "deeply regretted" some of her decisions.
Lachie Neale cheating claims
Meanwhile, Jules told the Pretty Sure podcast that Lachie had cheated on her with multiple women.
"You kind of question your trust with everything and everyone at that point. It's not a good feeling," she said.
Jules revealed the original plan was to keep the separation private and characterise the split publicly as a marital issue.
That changed when she shared a cryptic social media post claiming she had been "betrayed in the most unimaginable way".
"I actually felt a huge weight of relief off my shoulders," she said. "It actually felt good to have people know, not exactly what had happened, but just the truth."
The Debrief with Savanna Young is available on the Daily Mail's YouTube channel, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, with new episodes dropping weekly.
