FightMND campaigner and AFL champion dies
Updated ,first published
Following the news of Neale Daniher’s death on Monday, close friends and colleagues of the Melbourne champion footballer gathered at the MCG.
Daniher fought a courageous battle against motor neurone disease after he was diagnosed in 2013. However, Daniher’s death at the age of 65 still affected him deeply.
“We were a little surprised because it always comes back… [but] you could feel it [his disease] “He was really starting to take hold,” said former Melbourne captain David Neitz.
On Monday, football figures and politicians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, paid tribute to Daniher, a brave figure in the fight against the MND. AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon said the sport was “heartbroken”.
Daniher’s death was confirmed just two weeks before the King’s Birthday match between Melbourne and Collingwood, which has become synonymous with the FightMND charity and the Big Freeze fundraiser.
Neitz’s career, which played more than 300 games in the AFL until his retirement in 2008, included the entirety of Daniher’s tenure as Demons coach.
“He was an extraordinary person to be around and to learn from his self-sacrificing attitude and dedication,” Neitz said.
“He inspired an army to join the fight and they will continue to fight for him.
“The damned beast won this war today, but wars will continue today, and Neale’s famous words still stand true.”
Neitz and another former player, Paul Hopgood, spoke near Daniher’s Way (a walkway leading to the MCG named in his honor).
The two had only seen Daniher a few weeks ago. They could tell his condition was getting worse while he was still cracking jokes.
“This is a scary monster because his mind was still fully active… you could feel his frustration,” Hopgood said. “He was such an extraordinary person.”
Prime Minister Jacinta Allan said Daniher would be honored with a state memorial.
“Right now my thoughts and my love are [wife] I know the thoughts and love of Jan and his family and all Victorians will go out to the Daniher family as we hold them in our hearts today,” Allan said.
Daniher was named Victorian of the Year in 2019 and Australian of the Year in 2025 for her advocacy trying to find a cure for the disease, which she labels a “monster”.
The Daniher family released a statement outlining their pride in how he continued the fight against MND “with a cheeky smile and a keen sense of humour”.
“We are saddened to share that our beloved husband, father and Poppy Neale Daniher passed away at home with his family,” the statement said.
“From day one, Neale was a warrior. His determination was unmatched, choosing each day to find an opportunity that others would only challenge, and he fought the Beast with everything he had.
“Even in the toughest of times, he kept pushing forward, determined to land as many blows as possible against his toughest opponent – all with a cheeky smile and a sharp sense of humor that never left him.”
AFL boss Dillon pointed out Daniher had led Melbourne to the grand final.
“Neale’s passing is a devastating loss not only to everyone who was lucky enough to know him, but also to everyone in our community because of the sacrifice he represented,” Dillon said.
“Neale was a fantastic player when he started out at Essendon, and when injuries cut short his playing career he was a passionate and outstanding coach who took Melbourne to a series of six finals.
“However, despite the challenges of his own MND diagnosis, his contribution to wider Australian life was simply incredible in that he put himself forward to raise awareness of the disease, support fundraising efforts and seek a treatment that he knew would probably not help him but could help thousands of other Australians in the future.”
Educated at Assumption College in Kilmore, where he built a strong reputation as a schoolboy, Daniher was the most talented player from one of the sport’s most famous families, although a knee injury damaged his playing career at Essendon.
One of 11 Daniher children who grew up in Ungarie in central NSW, he was settled in South Melbourne (later to become Sydney) but played his first VFL game for Essendon in 1979 after a complicated trade saga involving his older brother Terry.
Despite suffering a serious knee injury in the final round, he won the Bombers’ best and fairest award in 1981, aged just 20.
His talent and leadership were such that the Bombers selected him as their captain for 1982. However, he struggled to overcome injuries and was never able to get the team on the field. The Bombers did not play any games in the next three seasons after winning back-to-back titles with Terry Daniher as captain in 1984-85.
In total, he added just 16 career appearances in the nine seasons after 1981, making a total of 82 appearances in 12 seasons; The last of these was in round 22 of the famous 1990 season, when he took the field alongside Terry and his younger brothers Anthony and Chris. This was the first and only time all four brothers played for the same team at the highest level, although the quartet featured in the State of Origin match for NSW earlier that season.
Following his playing days, he became assistant coach to Kevin Sheedy at Essendon and held a similar role at Fremantle before taking up the senior job at Melbourne for the 1998 season.
A popular figure with Demons players and fans, he coached the club for 10 seasons, leading them to a grand final defeat to Sheedy’s mighty Bombers in 2000.
Demons chairman Steven Smith said Daniher was “a man of action, not words”.
“Neale was not driven by personal motivation, he was driven by helping others, right down to the end,” Smith said.
Essendon chairman Andrew Welsh said Daniher “will forever be a beloved Bomber and one of the most remarkable men our game has ever produced”.
“Neale Daniher arrived at Windy Hill in 1979 as one of the most talented young footballers in the country,” Welsh said.
“While we never got to see exactly what he could have been as a football player due to persistent injuries, it was his impact on others that truly defined him.”
Former Melbourne player and recent club president Brad Green quoted Daniher’s favorite quote: “When all is said and done, much more is said than is done.”
“We will continue to play,” Green said on social media.
Former Demons ruckman Jeff White said Daniher was his “second father”.
“He always said: ‘Health is your wealth.’ You left an incredible footprint on so many people, your legacy will live on forever,” White wrote to X.
Daniher has taken a very public stance in his fight against MND, launching the FightMND charity and subsequent Big Freeze fundraiser; This concept has grown in popularity since it was first introduced more than a decade ago.
Daniher has joined forces with two other passionate campaigners: Dr Ian Davis, who was diagnosed with MND at the age of 33, and Angie’s husband Pat Cunningham, who also struggles with the disease.
“These three strangers, united by the same devastating reality, met for the first time in a small café in Hawthorn,” reads a blurb on the FightMND website. “But they didn’t come together to console their common pain. They came to take the fight to MND, and together they came up with a plan to make it happen.
“In November 2014, FightMND was born.
“It’s a small, modest organization of three people, two of whom are terminally ill. They often joked that this wasn’t the most sustainable business model.
“But their vision was clear. They would not let MND be overshadowed. They would push for better funding, better research and real progress.”
Daniher is survived by his wife Jan and adult children Lauren, Luke, Ben and Bec. When her ability to communicate was recently compromised due to illness, Bec became the leading campaigner and voice of the MND.
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Jake Niall is a Walkley-winning sports journalist and The Age’s chief AFL writer.Connect with: X or email.
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