Max Gawn writes the only Neale Daniher he knows is the ‘selfless, inspiring’ man who puts life in perspective

MELBOURNE meets Collingwood in a Queen’s Birthday blockbuster on Monday, but footy will play second fiddle. MAX GAWN on Neale Daniher, ‘story time’ with Jack Watts and facing Brodie Grundy.

Neale Daniher with the entire Melbourne playing list at AAMI Park. Pic: Michael Klein

LAST summer I was one of a few of the Melbourne boys invited to go to the Mornington Peninsula for a golf day.

It was the players versus a group of loyal supporters and former board members, who called on a celebrity coach for the day — Neale Daniher.

Jack Trengove, Jack Watts and I had made our way down the day before and had a couple of quiet ales at the Sorrento Pub.

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Somehow the time got away from us and before we knew it we were sneaking back into our accommodation in the wee hours of the morning.

We had crept through the front gate and got to the back bungalow, where we found two men sitting around a campfire not the least bit concerned about making noise.

Max Gawn with Neale Daniher at AAMI Park. Pic: Michael Klein

With the sunrise closer than the sunset, there sat Daniher and former Melbourne president Don McLardy with the bluetooth speaker on full volume.

It was a moment I will cherish for a long time.

Not only were they in much better shape than the three young footballers, they weren’t pulling up stumps any time soon and a game of “Pick your favourite song” started.

Apologies to the other wannabe DJ’s on the night, but there’s only one song I remember from that night and it was Neale’s.

“Happy” by Pharrell Williams echoed into the night sky. Slightly away from the campfire genre, admittedly, but what a song and a moment I’m very grateful to have taken part in.

Now when that song plays on any one of the FM stations I don’t turn it off. I bob my head to the beat and think back to that night with Neale. Story time with ‘Wattsy’ is also something I won’t forget from that night and nor will Neale I don’t think.

For someone like me who is yet to play in a final, Queen’s birthday, like Anzac Day eve, is the games you immediately look for when the fixture comes out.

Gawn says Brodie Grundy’s strength is one of his assets. Pic: Getty Images

It’s long been Melbourne’s big blockbuster game. In my time I’ve played in a draw, a couple of nail biters and a few blowouts, but all of them were a great spectacle.

However, for the fourth year in a row there is added importance to this game, with Melbourne and Collingwood will play in the Freeze ‘MND’.

Last year this game raised more than $2 million in the fight against the “beast” that is Motor Neurone Disease. For me it’s a great honour to represent the Melbourne Football Club and stand beside a great clubman like Neale.

I hadn’t met Neale, or anyone with MND, until he came into the club and spoke before the 2015 Queen’s Birthday game. I only know Neale as the selfless, inspiring and energetic fella who every time I shake his hand has a massive grin on his face.

If I got diagnosed with MND I would cry, and probably cry some more, followed by feeling sorry for myself for hours on end. Not Neale. He emerged from the sorrow state in less time then it takes to play a game of footy. Straight away all of his time went to stopping the beast.

What can he do? How can he help? Well, raising $30 million is one hell of a way to help. Will he get a piece of this pie? Probably not.

An Australian hero.

Neale Daniher talks to @melbournefc about the fight to #FreezeMND.

👉 https://t.co/pIlyg5H1oJ to donate. pic.twitter.com/POdp4WyeKb

— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 8, 2018

Selflessness is a quality that all teams strive for. How does ‘me’ become ‘we’? Footy is certainly not life and death and I’m not fighting the beast, but I have learnt a lot from Neale and his fight that I can use in my life.

Before writing this column I asked those who know Neale well as to what best describes him. Most said caring. No one would blame Neale if he wanted to stop, but he won’t. He puts life into perspective despite facing his own mortality.

There are not many men like Neale. I hope that when I grow old my family and friends describe me as someone who is selfless and motivating, even when the world is against you.

Returning to the golf course, Neale’s still got it as a coach. He inspired the supporters and old board members to a win the next day.

Which is exactly what we keep striving for at Melbourne. Monday’s game features two teams currently playing the sort of football they have been striving for for years.

For some neutral fans, their minds might wander to the one-point game when Ricky Petterd dropped the ball in the square or last year when Watts kicked the sealer in the dying seconds.

Neale Daniher with the entire Melbourne playing list at AAMI Park. Pic: Michael Klein

But for Melbourne fans and players, the mind doesn’t get far past Round 23 last year and the loss to Collingwood that killed our season.

There’s so many match-ups. Scott Pendlebury, Adam Treloar, Steele Sidebottom and Taylor Adams up against Clayton Oliver, Angus Brayshaw, Jack Viney and Nathan Jones. An in-form Mason Cox and Will Hoskin-Elliott up against Oscar McDonald and Neville Jetta, Jesse Hogan and Tom McDonald against young-gun Matthew Scharenberg and ex-Demon Lynden Dunn.

I’ll need to have my wits about me as well coming up against an in-form Brodie Grundy, a player who is putting together some incredible numbers for a big man.

His workrate is phenomenal and something I will need to match. His physical strength is also among the best in the competition.

It’s exciting to play in a game that hopefully puts on a good show and creates as much noise as possible for a good cause. Together, hopefully players, coaches, media, supporters and those watching at home can freeze the beast in MND.

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