Neale Daniher was best known as an AFL legend and motor neurone disease crusader but his family have used his state funeral to remember him for his laugh, sweet tooth and love of music.
The 2025 Australian of the Year died on 25 May aged 65 after a 13-year-long public battle with MND, which he dubbed “the Beast”. On Wednesday, more than 5,000 mourners clad in blue beanies gathered at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for his state funeral.
Daniher’s wife, Jan, delivered the first eulogy, remembering her husband of 41 years not for his diagnosis but his character.
“His integrity, his humility, his honesty, his strength and resilience, his sharp wit, his cheeky smile, his love of family and friends, and his wonderful love of laughter – this is how we will remember Neale. I love you, darling,” she said.
When The Beast was delivering its final blows, daughter Loz said all Daniher wanted to do was to get up.
“Even when his body was failing, his mind was still fighting on right to the very end,” she said.
Loz said she would miss walking through the door to her parent’s home and seeing Daniher smile from his chair, his “look of a annoyance” when she misunderstood him, the “cheeky grin you would have on your face while you typed a smart-ass comment” and the “wink you would give us when we sorted what you needed”.
“We will play on for you, Dad,” she said.
Daughter Bec, the executive director and spokesperson for FightMND, said she loved her father “boundlessly”.
“To the world you inspired so many, but to me you were simply my dad, the one who guided me when I couldn’t see the next step,” she said.
Daniher’s son Luke said while while his father was renowned as a footballer, coach and campaigner, to him he was a “man with a sweet tooth who occasionally hid his chocolate biscuits from us four kids”.
His son Ben described Daniher as his “kindred spirit”, who he talked “endlessly” to about politics, movies and music.
“My dad was a tyrant when it came to the control of the music, and anyone who knows me well knows I inherited that trait. We both like to rule the speakers with an iron fist,” he said.
The crowd also heard tributes from Daniher’s brother Anthony, Brisbane’s 2025 premiership coach, Chris Fagan, and David Neitz and Paul Hopgood, who played for Daniher during his near decade-long tenure as Melbourne’s senior coach.
Daniher was diagnosed with MND in 2013. The average life expectancy is 27 months, but he survived for 13 years.
It confined Daniher to a wheelchair and took his ability to speak, but his voice continued to grow as he devoted the rest of his life to raising money for medical research and advocated for other people suffering from the disease.
FightMND, the charity he co-founded, has committed more than $141m to medical research for treatments and the quest for a cure.
In 2025, Daniher was named Australian of the Year for his contributions in leading the fight against MND, inspiring millions of Australians with hope.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, hailed the “invincible optimism” of a hero who confronted adversity head on. .
“When he lost his voice, his words became more powerful,” Albanese said. “When he could no longer walk, more and more Australians put on their beanies and marched at his side.”
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said Daniher had turned his own suffering into something that could help others.
“Because of him, there is now a stream of light where there was none before,” she said.
The state funeral comes just two days after a record crowd packed the MCG on Monday and donned their distinctive FightMND blue beanies for the annual Big Freeze match.
More than 88,000 fans attended King Charles’s birthday clash between Collingwood and Melbourne, which raised $2.5m for FightMND. The governor general, Sam Mostyn, was among the high-profile figures who slid into an ice bath as part of the festivities.
Mostyn also attended the state funeral, alongside Victorian governor Margaret Gardner, former state leaders Ted Baillieu, Steve Bracks and Jeff Kennett and AFL players past and present.
