May 26, 2026 — 2:50pmEssendon great Terry Daniher has paid tribute to his brother Neale, praising the courage and selflessness of the former player, coach and man who bravely fought his battle against motor neurone disease.The football world continues to mourn the passing of Daniher, who died on Monday aged 65.Daniher, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2013, raised more than $115 million for research through his FightMND charity.Back in the day: Demons coach Neale Daniher at training in 2003.Sebastian Costanzo“He has done a marvellous job – that’s through his resilience, his courage and selflessness,” Terry Daniher told SEN on Tuesday.“He was more worried about the bloke next door that had it, than himself. He was hellbent on trying to make a difference. We have got to take up the slack now.”Terry said their mother Edna had come down from the family farm in Ungarie in rural New South Wales to say goodbye.“She is holding up pretty well. She got down here the other day and caught up with Neale and spent some quiet time with him, and rushed back to the farm. She is handling it well,” Terry said.Tim Watson, another Essendon great and former captain, said Neale was “an extraordinary human being”.“I remember I was at the MCG, and I was standing here with a professor. I was just talking to him, and he said, ‘You know, that bloke over there, he’s such a gift’. This professor specialised in MND,” Watson said.“I said, ‘What do you mean by that?’, and he said, ‘Well, no one’s ever lived long enough, we’ve never been able to put a face to MND in this country because no one’s ever lived long enough’.Edna Daniher (centre) pictured in 2004 with, from left to right, Neale, Chris, Anthony and Terry.Vince Caligiuri“He just became the face of MND and people learned about MND.”Neale was named Victorian of the Year in 2019 and Australian of the Year in 2025 because of his advocacy, trying to find a cure for the disease he labelled “the beast”.Neale played for the Bombers from 1979-90, starring across half-back in 66 straight matches in his first three seasons before multiple knee injuries derailed what shaped as a decorated career.Days gone by: Kevin Sheedy and Terry Daniher hold aloft the 1985 premiership cup. Under different circumstances, it could have been Neale who was the premiership captain.Fairfax MediaThe famous Daniher family was originally zoned to the South Melbourne Football Club (now the Sydney Swans) under the VFL’s country zoning rules. Terry played 19 games for South Melbourne before he was traded to Essendon ahead of the 1978 campaign.Terry said his father, James, had ensured Neale, who had been a student border at Assumption College, did not play for South Melbourne by having the club secretary years earlier sign a form declaring Neale would be released. Neale became part of the trade involving Terry.“When I got the flick, got sacked at the club, Neale was in his last year of school. It was a real battle to get him across. Eventually, Dad pulled out that little bit of paper and slapped it on the desk,” Terry said.Neale won the Bombers’ best and fairest award in 1981 and was appointed captain for the ’82 season at the age of 22 but never led the side, due to injury. Daniher returned to play five matches in 1985 before being struck down by injury again. Terry would go on and captain the club to the ’84-85 premierships.“I never really spoke too much about it,” Terry said of Neale and the disappointment he would have felt.Watson said Neale could have been one of the greats of the game had it not been for injury.“He was dealt some really difficult things. He was a young bloke, and I’m not trying to make this any glossier than what it could be, but he could have been one of the greatest players, certainly in the history of the Essendon Football Club and one of the most revered figures,” Watson said.FightMND, the charity Neale Daniher co-founded, has raised more than $100 million.AFL Photos“He was named captain at 21 years of age. He’d just won the best and fairest. Essendon were just on the rise under Kevin Sheedy. He wasn’t stripped of the captaincy, but it had to be handed on to someone else.“It ended up being handed to his brother, and so his brother Terry becomes the premiership captain, one of the most revered figures in the history of the football club. That could have been him, it could easily have been him had he not been cut down so cruelly at a young age with knee injuries.”Neale returned again to play 11 matches in 1989-90, including in round 22 of his final season, when he linked with siblings Terry, Anthony and Chris to make history as the first four brothers to play for the same team in a VFL/AFL match.“He was a good footballer, read the game well, he loved it. He really put his mind into it and, like anything, he did, he got the benefit from it,” Terry Daniher said.Neale had studied theology at secondary school, with a view to joining the clergy.“He did a bit of work on it, trying to get his head around it, like us all. [He] put a bit of time and effort into it, and, of course, coming from a pretty strong Catholic family, certainly Mum, she ran it, she is nearly a saint … but his mind got on to other things,” Terry said.“Neale was always on her radar to perhaps go on and do something special, become a reverend. But Neale had other plans.”Those plans also included coaching – Neale spending time as an assistant with Essendon and Fremantle before taking on the top job at Melbourne in 1998, where he led the club into the 2000 grand final – against Essendon. His final role in clubland was as general manager of football operations at West Coast, which he stepped down from in 2013 citing health reasons.Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.From our partners