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News RIP Neale Daniher

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A life well lived, clearly made the most of every minute.

A hugely likeable figure, long before his brave fight.

His time at Melbourne and links to Essendon are better remmebered but I remember being stoked when he joined the Eagles at a point when the club was rebuilding both on and off the field in the wake of the 2006 flag. No doubt Neale helped lay the foundations of a culture that took us back to the top and he will always be fondly remembered by those in the West - and inaugral Dockers assistant coach too.
 

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Very harsh to be dropped on the eve of the 1990s finals after kicking 3.4 in round 22. Was Sheedy's biggest coaching regret

Yeah in hindsight though it was probably the correct decision. Neale had no pace by then but could still mark and kick reasonably well.

Collingwood smashed us by 10 goals in the semi and they were a very fast hard running side that year.

They had 7 individual goal kickers that day. Brown kicked 5 ..Daicos 3 ..Barwick 3
They kicked 17.15 and should’ve won by much more.

They had speed in Milane, Russell, Francis and Shaw was a very good player in the packs. Their backline 6 was super strong.


Only Keiren Sporn or Paul Hamilton would’ve been in his thoughts as candidates to be dropped in the GF if Neale made it through with good form.

Terry Daniher, Anthony Daniher, Vander Haar , Madden and Watson were all older and banged up. Anderson on a wing was slow. Kickett was skilled but slowish.

I had a perfect view of the gf match in standing room at the punt road end pocket.

I knew we were in trouble within 10 minutes of the first qrt. We looked slow and struggled to keep pace with the Pies fast play.
 
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Love to hear more stories about his playing and coaching days if anyone can share.

What a human champ 🏆

My favourite story about Neale is about how we got him to Windy Hill in the first place.

Long story short …Terry and Neale were signed to South Melbourne with Terry playing senior VFL footy and Neale still at school at Assumption College.

South were famously desperate to get Neville Fields from us and offered Terry in the trade deal.

As was the time back in those days, country kids often had their parents involved when it came to signings within league clubs.

Old man Jim Daniher had the last say in that deal and told both clubs that if Terry was going to Essendon in a transfer then Neale had to be part of the deal too..and he wouldn’t budge from that demand.


Neale said years later that he had no involvement in that process. He just did what his father wanted and was just happy to be playing footy at a league club. IMG_7011.webp
 

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