The Big Freeze: Matt Nable urges NRL to join fight against motor neurone disease

Acclaimed actor, writer and iconic voice of Fox League’s NRL coverage, Matt Nable opens up to David Riccio about the horrible disease that claimed the life of his brother - and the campaign to help other families.

Matt Nable spent the early hours of last Friday morning crying.

The acclaimed Australian actor, writer and iconic voice of Fox League’s NRL coverage has had an awful week.

The week before, was only marginally better.

The week before that, no good either.

Tears. Blank stares through the car windshield. Not hungry.

Scrolling his phone through old photos and videos. Seconds, minutes, days, spent trying to fill the indescribable emptiness.

Nable has come to terms with the realisation that he will never be whole again without his baby brother Aaron, 46, smiling the cheekiest of grins back at him.

This is how each day goes for the thousands of brothers, sisters, mums, dads, cousins and friends of loved ones impacted by the hideous motor neurone disease (MND).

“You realise when you lose something like this, it’s hard to accept,’’ Nable, who lost his brother Aaron in March, 2024, said.

Aussie actor and writer Matt Nable is headed to Melbourne for “The Big Freeze”. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“I won’t ever be the same. I won’t be whole again and that’s part of life.

“We all go through that.

“But it doesn’t make it any easier.

“Aaron’s presence was so much that it’s a massive hole that he’s left.

“He has three little boys that are 12, four and three and when Aaron got the disease, that was his focus. Providing something for his children.

(L-R) Aaron and Matt Nable. Picture supplied

“It’s tough. He was such a gregarious man. A gentle man, he had a big life.

“He touched a lot of people. He was an A-grade scallywag with a beautiful heart.

“There were 2,000 people at his funeral. I don’t even know 2,000 people.

“But he had a huge impact on a lot of people. He’s really missed.’’

It’s the reason why Nable is headed to Melbourne next weekend to join the likes of fellow Aussie stars Eric Bana and Asher Keddie for the annual Fight MND “The Big Freeze”.

In it’s 11th year, The “Big Freeze” is an annual fundraising and awareness campaign dedicated to finding treatments and a cure for MND.

The disease attacks the motor neurons that carry messages from the brain to the muscles via the spinal cord. These messages allow us to make movements like walking, swallowing, talking and breathing.

“He took that disease to the end. In the end all he could move was his eyebrows, so I saw first-hand what that disease is capable of,’’ Nable said.

Ever since it’s inception in 2015, the Big Freeze just keeps getting bigger, inspired following the diagnosis of former AFL player, coach and Australian of the Year, Neale Daniher.

The event, to be held across the King’s Birthday long weekend, features a variety of activities, including a “Big Freeze’’ at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Nable and other celebrities will slide into an ice bath.

Nable is on a mission to do more.

The 53-year-old, who also played first grade for Manly and South Sydney in the early 1990s, has recently held meetings with NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and chair Peter V’landys to create a Fight MND Big Freeze NRL match or round next season.

“Pete and Andrew were remarkably sympathetic when I approached them about the NRL supporting the Big Freeze and they see the value in raising awareness,’’ Nable said.

“The rugby league community has been affected by this. It’s not a rare disease anymore.

“It was one in 500 people in 1985 and now it’s one in 200 people, so there’s something environmentally we’re doing that is causing that.

“That’s not a hypothesis, that’s a fact.

“Inevitably it’s about finding a cure, or a medicine where it stops the progress of this disease, so that people have some sort of hope that they can prevent it from moving on to the situation where they pass away and they can live on.

“It’s a hard thing to get your head around that in 2025, there’s no cure for that.

“It’s also about bringing an awareness to people to help understand what the disease is because at the moment the money raised isn’t government raised, it’s all philanthropic, which is really hard to stomach.

“It’s at a point that MND will touch everyone within their circle. I’ve got a mate Dave Chapman who is 52 and has it.

“He’s got two young daughters and an amazing wife and it’s heartbreaking.

“Chapo is in the fight and he’s willing to come with me to Melbourne to raise awareness.’’

The famous actor, who starred in the Australian film The Dry and Hollywood war movie Hacksaw Ridge, and the hype guy before every big match, Nable wakes each day and smirks at the silly three-leaf clover - not four-leaf - with the words ‘lucky’ on his forearm.

Aaron had the entire Nable family ink the tattoo on their bodies before he passed.

“The things that you do in a career and for me, whether it’s writing, acting or the stuff I do for Fox, I feel very privileged for all doing that,’’ Nable said.

“But things like the Big Freeze, define you much more as a person.

“Getting involved in something like this, as hard as it is to talk about what Aaron went through, gives me and my entire family some real desire to help change the course of this awful disease.’’

* Beanies are available by scanning the QR code or at Coles, Bunnings, Shell Reddy Express and online at FIGHTMND.ORG.AU