Vale Neale Daniher

Australian Rules football player, author and co-founder of FightMND, Neale Daniher, has died, aged 65.

Pan Macmillan Australia writes:

Pan Macmillan Australia is deeply saddened by the passing of AFL great, author and philanthropist Neale Daniher. Neale died at home on 25 May, surrounded by his family, after losing his battle with motor neurone disease (MND).

Diagnosed in 2013, Neale became the face of MND and raised $130 million for his foundation, FightMND. The foundation’s signature event, Big Freeze, has become a fixture on the AFL calendar. His battle with the disease he called “The Beast” inspired him to write two books.

When All Is Said & Done was published in 2019, intended as a letter to his grandchildren. Winner of the ABIA for Biography of the Year, it detailed his rural childhood as one of 11 children and his years as a player, captain, coach and manager.

It offered hard-won wisdom on how to live a full and meaningful life while facing the reality of a terminal illness.

In The Power of Choice, published in 2025, Neale honed the philosophy that drove him: “You don’t get to choose everything that happens to you, but you always get to choose who you become in response.”

In his darkest hour, Neale made the choice to make a difference. He lived his last 13 years working with urgency to protect future generations against the ravages of MND. He came to personify moral courage and dignity, and represent that rare brand of leadership that elevates the interests of others over one’s own. In 2021, he was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia, and in 2025, was named Australian of the Year.

Neale is survived by his wife, Jan, his children, Lauren, Luke, Bec and Ben, and a glorious tribe of grandchildren for whom Neale first sat down to write.

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