Pictures: AFL chief Gillon McLachlan destroys Meat Loaf at Big Freeze 7 plunge
Gillon McLachlan has stolen the show at this year’s Big Freeze plunge, dressing up as Meat Loaf and labelling the rock legend a “great shame and disgrace”. See all the costumes and action.
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AFL chief Gillon McLachlan has stolen the show at this year’s Big Freeze slide fundraiser, taking the plunge as Meat Loaf.
Meat Loaf’s performance at the 2011 Grand Final was ridiculed in a horror gig for the American rock legend, who later blamed his performance on a haemorrhaging vocal cord.
“He brought great shame and disgrace to the whole game of Australian rules football,” McLachlan said, labelling the performance the “miss of the last decade”.
“He brought shame to the MCG, the committee got rolled, he brought shame on America.
“He claimed he needed 100 Harleys and he only got three … he said we underpaid him. He got half a million dollars, it was 499,000 too much.
“Everyone knew it was Andrew Demetriou’s decision and I have lived with it every day for a decade, it is time to exorcise the demons.
“He was so bad, it’s become infamous. It’s hard to beat that.”
After he got out of the ice bath, McLachlan donned his infamous mustard polo jacket and paid tribute to Daniher’s national effort for MND.
The annual fundraiser event was held at the MCG on Monday despite the Queen’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood being moved to Sydney
Hawks legend Shane Crawford was the first to brave the slide into 600 bags of ice and frigid -3C water.
He dressed up as the Queen for the Queen’s Birthday holiday.
“We love Neale and it’s also the Queen’s Birthday as well so thought I’d celebrate her birthday and we’ll do it in style,” Crawford said.
“An absolute honour, great to be part of it today. I can assure you that is cold and I’ve been Antarctica.
“The only disappointing thing is the crowd not being here. I just said (to Neale) you’re a superstar.”
Billy Brownless went down wearing VB budgie smugglers and an Assumption College jumper with Daniher’s old number, 36, on the back.
“All the love around here is fantastic and it’s all because of Neale. We love him and we all want to get around him,” he said.
“He’s a star. I knew him at Assumption and you run into him here and there. It’s hard to explain, you just say: ‘Yes, how high do I jump?’”
AFLW star and Channel 7 commentator Daisy Pearce went down as cartoon character Bluey.
“We’ve had about four production meetings about how I was going to get down safely in that thing,” she said.
“One for the adults and the kids.
“(Neale’s) resilience is a lesson for us all and it’s just humbling to be here.”
Former Demons star Jeff Farmer went down as his nickname, the Wizard.
“I’ve been on a massive diet and been training … obviously that’s a bare faced lie,” he said. “So much love and respect (for Neale).”
Umpire “Razor” Ray Chamberlain took the plunge as Elton John.
“We had to create our own atmosphere up there, but great kit, a bespoke fit,” he said.
“The entire umpiring family is so connected to Neale and we’re just grateful to be included.”
Fox Footy host Sarah Jones dressed up as Mary Poppins, her favourite childhood movie.
“I’ve got two beautiful girls who’ll be watching at home and they’ll be very excited,” she said.
“It was my favourite movie growing up and my mum’s favourite movie.”
Broadcaster Russel Howcroft went bare-chested, just with a blue and red heart painted on.
“We are all bleeding hearts, that’s true,” the 3AW breakfast host said.
Former Collingwood AFLW player Sharni Layton broke out into a dance as rapper Vanilla Ice.
“It was freezing, I got a bit scared going down the slide,” she said.
“Heaps of fun and proud to be a part of it. I thought what can I do that’s in theme and that was my era growing up.”
And Abbey Holmes paid homage to boundary riders, going down as Robert “Dipper” DiPierdomenico and wearing his original Channel 7 jacket.
“It was from about from 1997, thank you to the great man for letting me borrow this piece of history,” she said.
“I love my job at Channel 7 on the boundary and love what I do each and every weekend.
“Dipper, in my opinion, he was the absolute king of the boundary so wanted to pay homage to him. This is a collector’s item.”
Interstate, Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy dressed up as Elsa from the Disney movie Frozen as he beamed in from Queensland with two buckets of ice thrown over him.
And in Sydney, more personalities including Jack Viney, Jeremy Howe, and Matty J got in on the action with a kayak race at Bondi Beach’s iconic Icebergs ocean pool.
The Big Freeze has helped contribute to more than $48m invested in research through Neale Daniher’s FightMND charity.
Campaign director Bec Daniher, Neale’s daughter, told the Saturday Herald Sun: “Dad’s mantra is to play on. And that is what we will be doing on June 14.”
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