Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Neale Daniher may have lost his courageous battle against motor neurone disease two weeks ago — but his legacy of fighting what he termed “The Beast” has carried on in spectacular style.
In the 12th edition of the Big Freeze spearheaded by Daniher and the first since his death to motor neurone disease, the MCG was dotted by more blue beanies which raise funds for FightMND than ever.
And some of Australia’s biggest names were all too happy to add themselves to the legendary list of those who have gone down a slide into a pool of ice water to help the cause.
After the proceedings began with a stirring narration from his former teammate Tim Watson, Daniher’s daughter Bec continued in her father’s role of sending the sliders on their way.
Channel Seven football expert Dale Thomas may have been the winner from the day, impersonating his former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse.
And before bringing out the club’s 2010 premiership captain Nick Maxwell to hoist their cup one more time, the Magpies champion even wheeled out an impression of the legendary football figure.
“Hopefully it’s a good performance from the boys out there and there’s no more of these rubbish questions,” was his reply to Watson’s opening query, mimicking Malthouse’s often-frosty demeanour in dealing with the media.
Sunrise weather presenter Sam Mac was hard to miss as Bluey, which he said was a tribute to his daughters Margot and Mable.
“Bluey is a six-year-old girl, and I’ve got a similar physique to a six-year-old girl, so it was perfect,” Mac joked.
Australian Idol judge and ARIA Award-winning artist Amy Shark paid tribute to her namesake, American musician Amy Winehouse.
Dan Gorringe and Sam Mostyn both went for a half-and-half look, with the footballer-turned-influencer even shaving part of his head to be Carlton interim coach Josh Fraser and the Governor-General’s guernsey bearing Daniher’s name split between his beloved Essendon and Melbourne.
Demons legend Nathan Jones — who was coached by Daniher in the first season-and-a-half of his 302-game AFL career — opted for massive Australian DJ Fisher, even pulling off his signature ‘shoey’ before going down the slide.
Olympic gold medal-winning freestyle skier Cooper Woods was surfer Mick Fanning and netball star Jo Weston said she was “probably the world’s tallest Kylie Minogue impersonator”.
Triple M host and commentator Mark Howard went down as Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall and comedian Andy Lee opened proceedings as ‘Wizz’ from his children’s book series Do Not Open This Book.
The event also included a community slider for the first time in Josh Saunders. The Victorian GP — who has raised more than $100,000 for FightMND alongside his family — dressed as Paul Kelly, one of Daniher’s favourite musicians.
