Neale Daniher honoured with guard of honour from both teams before King’s Birthday clash

Neale Daniher has been honoured by Collingwood, Melbourne and the wider AFL community with an “incredibly touching” guard of honour before the traditional King’s Birthday clash on Monday.

The pre-match begun, as always, with the Big Freeze 11 sliders, where Sunrise star Matt Shirvington and Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus led a group of 10 Aussie icons, dressed in the theme of Aussie icons to raise awareness for motor neuron disease.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Guard of honour formed for Neale Daniher.

When the two teams later entered the stadium for their last-minute pre-match run-throughs, every Melbourne player ran over to Daniher on the sidelines to each give him their own touch.

Shortly after, players from both sides, as well as coaches and umpires, formed a guard of honour for the reigning Australian of the Year, just ahead of the first bounce of the game.

Daniher was wheeled through the guard of honour by his son Luke in what was a special tribute.

“Really emotional scenes just then as both teams gave the guard of honour to Neale Daniher and incredibly touching down here,” said Kate McCarthy, who was at ground level when it happened.

A sea of the iconic blue beanies formed the backdrop to the guard of honour, which was conducted on the boundary line near the crowd.

It was a special touch added to what has already become a landmark event on the Australian sporting calendar.

“This is a magic moment,” Dale Thomas said.

Bruce McAvaney added: “What a football family the Danihers are, and what an Australian family they’ve become.

“And for Neale, who could have hidden away from this and we wouldn’t have seen them for all these years, he has delivered in spades in terms of inspiration.”

James Brayshaw said Daniher wouldn’t want it to be all about him — but in the 11 years since the inception of the Big Freeze, it has become just that, with Daniher representing everyone who has been affected by MND.

“We’ve all known the great Neale Daniher for so long; he would be aware that it has to be about him, this day,” Brayshaw said.

“But he would still be uncomfortable that it is about him.”

Brian Taylor said that even though Daniher — who coached Melbourne to the 2000 grand final — can’t speak anymore, his body language still says a thousand words.

“And just as the players were departing from the boundary, I could see him look at Steven May, and he was saying, ‘I might be shaking the hands of these Collingwood idiots, but go and stick it up them!’” Taylor said.

“He was almost saying that to Steven May, I could read his mind like a book.”

Head to 7plus to watch all the Big Freeze 11 sliders, and click here to donate to Fight MND.