Growing calls are emerging for Neale Daniher to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame without delay, following the passing of the legendary figure after a prolonged battle with motor neurone disease. Daniher, who was a revered AFL player, coach, and administrator, dedicated a lifetime of service to the sport. He passed away on Monday at the age of 65, after a 12-year fight against the condition.
Daniher was a key founder of FightMND in 2014, an organisation that has since invested over $115 million into research aimed at finding treatments and ultimately a cure for the terminal neurodegenerative disease. Football has been central to the organisation’s fundraising and awareness efforts, with the annual King’s Birthday match between Collingwood and Melbourne becoming the “Big Freeze” in 2015, serving as the primary event ever since.
Speaking on Channel Seven’s The Agenda Setters, Kane Cornes stated that Daniher, who was named Australian of the Year in 2025, is unquestionably deserving of a swift elevation into the Hall of Fame. “He was inducted into Melbourne’s Hall of Fame in 2021, and he is a legend in Essendon’s Hall of Fame. Yet he is not yet a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame,” Cornes said. “The dinner is in June. The AFL needs to fast-track this induction. Neale Daniher belongs in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. That is the greatest honour our game has got, and Legend status is above that. No one would complain if he becomes an eventual Legend, but they must get him into that Hall of Fame, and it needs to happen within a couple of weeks.”
Cornes also expressed a desire to see a permanent display at the MCG honouring Daniher and FightMND, including an honour roll of all participants who have taken part in the Big Freeze slide. “Some of the names that have embraced this, from coaches to players to media figures — Nick Riewoldt, iconic — it absolutely is football’s ultimate honour,” he said. “What a day it has become, one of the marquee days on our calendar, all thanks to Neale and his family and what they have sacrificed.”
Cornes’ co-panellist Caroline Wilson highlighted the role of Daniher’s wife Jan, describing her as an “extraordinary fighter and carer for her husband.” Wilson added, “I want to pay tribute to her and her four children and the work they have done. Daughter Bec has become the face of FightMND and continues to front up to events, functions, fundraisers, and radio interviews, and it must be tough.”
