Neale Daniher AO, Australian Football player, coach and general manager, was born in West Wyalong, New South Wales in 1961. One of four brothers who made up the Daniher football dynasty, Neale was signed with the Essendon Football Club from the beginning of his career, in 1979 through to 1990; playing 82 games and kicking 32 goals despite being plagued with injury. After retiring as a player, Daniher was assistant coach for the Essendon and Fremantle football clubs. In 1998 he was appointed as senior coach to the Melbourne Football Club, where he steered the team for 10 seasons. During this time Daniher led the Demons to the 2000 AFL Grand Final against Essendon. Leaving coaching in 2007, he was appointed general manager of football operations at the West Coast Eagles in 2008 until his retirement in 2013.
Daniher was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2013, and made his diagnosis public the following year, when he co-founded the organisation FightMND with Pat Cunningham. FightMND's purpose is to research effective treatments, and eventually a cure, for Motor Neurone Disease. In 2015, Daniher became the public face of the foundation's biggest fundraising event, The Big Freeze, held during the annual Queen's Birthday football match between Melbourne and Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. FightMND has raised and subsequently invested over $50 million into research and care initiatives since its foundation in 2014.
Daniher was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in 2016 for his efforts in raising awareness of MND and raising funds to help find a cure for the disease. In 2018 he was named the fourth-ever recipient of the AFL's John Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, recognising 'extraordinary and positive contribution to the game of Australian Football across multiple parts of the game'. In 2019 Daniher was named Victorian of the Year and released his memoir, When All is Said & Done, which won the 2020 Australian Book Industry Awards Biography of the Year. In recognition of his contribution to AFL coaching, in 2019, the AFL Coaches Association renamed their premier award the Neale Daniher AFL Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award. In the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2021, Daniher was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia, for his ongoing charity work.
