WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Brisbane Lions players have established a fund donating their salaries to support the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby.
OUR VERDICT
False. The story has been fabricated.
AAP FACTCHECK - The Brisbane Lions are not donating their entire salaries to support the family of a child who was allegedly murdered, despite claims on social media.
The claim that players have set up a charity fund for Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was found dead after going missing from a town camp in Alice Springs, is one of numerous falsehoods published by a Facebook page called Lions Fanclub.
The supposed AFL club fan page is actually operated from Vietnam, according to Facebook's transparency details, and is pushing out disinformation on a daily basis.
It is one of several pages AAP FactCheck has identified that target supporters of various AFL and NRL clubs with fabricated stories and AI-generated images.
Posts urge readers to click on a link to an ad-laden website in the comments, where further false claims are made.
Numerous posts allege players and even the club have donated money into a fund to support the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby, who was allegedly murdered in April.
One post claims that players were "unanimously donating their entire salaries to a charity fund" in memory of the five-year-old.
Another post says that "all prize money from matches, along with revenue from ticket sales for each game, will be directly contributed to the fund".
A third post focuses on player Lachie Neale's supposed contribution, claiming "the Brisbane Lions superstar decided to donate his entire prize money to the family of the 5-year-old girl".
All of these claims are false.
The posts claim the club and players have issued several statements about the fund.
However, these statements do not exist, and there are no mentions of the fund on the players' social media accounts.
The post about Neale features an image of the player in an AFL Grand Final guernsey, hugging Kumanjayi Little Baby.
There is no evidence that the two ever met.
Other posts on the page claim to link Neale with Kumanjayi Little Baby, including one that suggests the girl wrote a letter to Neale, her supposed hero.
There is no evidence to support this claim, and the handwriting in the pictured letter does not appear consistent with that of a five-year-old.
Another post claims Neale pleaded with the public to protect her family after watching a video showing her moments before her body was discovered.
There is no evidence that such a video exists or that Neale issued a public message.
Neale is the subject of numerous posts on the page, including claims he proposed permanently abolishing "LGBT Pride month", replacing it with ceremonies to honour Australian veterans.
This claim is false. There is no record of the player making any such comments.
A further post alleges he was present in court to give evidence against the so-called ISIS Brides.
This is also false. Neale has made no such court appearance.
The images used in the post - depicting Neale and three burqa-clad women in a courtroom - display several hallmarks of AI generation.
In one image the courtroom features the UK coat of arms and in the other, it has the Australian coat of arms.
Writing on the courtroom wall is also a garbled, unintelligible script.
Another post claims to show Neale, wearing his grand final guernsey and shorts, presenting a gift to former player Jonathan Brown, who is currently battling a brain tumour.
While Brown did undergo surgery to have a brain tumour removed in March, the image is fake.
In the bottom right corner, the tip of Google Gemini's logo is visible, which indicates the image was generated using the company's AI tool.
Neale is also shown in a post, hugging an elderly fan who was supposedly mocked for being a Lions supporter.
The Google Gemini logo is also visible in the corner of the image.
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