Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Nathan Jones has been pushed out of his comfort zone by Neale Daniher before.
As a teenager in 2006, he made his debut for Melbourne under Daniher, the Demons’ famously uncompromising coach. Now he’s an assistant coach at the club, and Daniher – who died of motor-neurone disease a fortnight ago – is sending him down the Big Freeze slide at the MCG in front of perhaps 90,000 footy fans.
It was in the days after Melbourne’s round-three win over Carlton in late March that Jones received a text from his former coach.
It opened with a typically honest critique of the team; Daniher’s 12-year battle with MND had not dulled his passion for the game and how it should be played.
Next came the request to get uncomfortable – Daniher wanted the former Demons skipper to momentarily put aside his pre-match duties ahead of his team’s King’s Birthday match against Collingwood and go down the slide in Big Freeze 12.
Daniher’s death at home on May 25 has only made the rally cry from his former coach more meaningful.
“He proceeded to ask me if I’d be keen to do it, and I obviously jumped at it,” Jones said on Sunday.
“I was super honoured and super grateful that he gave me the opportunity. As sad as that is now, I look back and I’m just rapt that he gave me the opportunity.
“I’m super sad that he won’t be there, but the best thing to do is to ‘play on’, as he would say.”
Jones only spent a season and a half under Daniher at the Demons, but the veteran coach had a telling impact on him at the start of an AFL career that totalled 302 games, three best-and-fairest awards and the captaincy of the Dees for six seasons.
It was Daniher who gave Jones his debut late in the 2006 season, and it was also Daniher whose tough love pushed him to become a leading player. Those same lessons now inform his coaching at the Dees.
“Early on, I was actually quite intimidated by him. [He] was very much the old-school coach who was pretty ruthless, set in his ways, and preached humility and hard work; all the cornerstones of what makes great football teams and sporting teams and professional organisations,” Jones recalled. “But he also had this kind of underlying warmth, and if you demonstrated some of those values that he held so dear, then he became pretty fond of you.
“I think that was the case with me. He very much wanted to keep you level-headed. I had finished my first year pretty well, and got a little bit of individual acknowledgement, and some team success, and played in the VFL premiership after playing in a couple of AFL finals, so I walked into my end-of-season exit interview thinking that everything is going up from here.
“He brought me back down a peg, telling me I need to put more work in, and that I was unfit and a bit overweight and I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I’m capable of.
“He added that if I don’t come back [to the next pre-season] and win the 3km time trial and have real purpose and focus, then I won’t make it anywhere.”
Jones took those home truths to heart, playing 21 games in 2007 and finishing runner-up to Alex McDonald in the club best-and-fairest award.
“I’ll always look back on that fondly, but I walked out of that meeting with my tail between my legs, thinking, ‘what have I done?’,” Jones recalled.
“But, ultimately, it was around the humility piece, and driving high standards and high expectations, and, when I look back, I ended up having a really strong second year and I think it was because of him pushing me and driving me down that path of accountability and making sure that I put the work in.”
Daniher finished as Demons coach in June 2007, but Jones’ bond with his former mentor became even stronger in when Daniher was diagnosed with MND in 2013 and launched the Big Freeze fundraisers the following year, since raising more than $140 million.
Jones was captain of the Demons at that point and aware that his paternal grandfather had died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the most common form of MND.
“My grandpa was 80-odd and he went pretty quickly, so I didn’t look into the condition too much,” Jones said.
“But I was really familiar with the symptoms, and when Neale was diagnosed, I was like ‘this is what my grandpa had’. I didn’t think at the time about how quickly grandpa went and the life expectancy when diagnosed, but to think Neale made it 12 years, it’s pretty incredible really.
“The way he did it so publicly, in particular showing us the way this disease works. It takes away a lot of your independence, a lot of your dignity, your ability to speak and use your hands, but somehow, he was just incredible at bringing people together and inspiring them.”
Organisers have listed nine people to slide on Monday: Governor-General Sam Mostyn, AC, former Magpie turned commentator Dale Thomas, Seven weather presenter Sam Mac, Australian netballer Jo Weston, footy personality Dan Gorringe, sports broadcaster Mark Howard, Australian freestyle skiing gold medallist Cooper Woods, TV star Andy Lee and Jones.
While Jones has had plenty of involvement with Fight MND over the years, he never thought he would be asked to slide; a task he will have to wedge between his preparations for the game.
His costume, to be revealed on the day, has been chosen with knowledge that he will need to get it on and off in between Melbourne’s pre-game team meetings.
“I’ve got a bit of a dress-up going, but it’s quite efficient, considering I’m going to slide, jump out, head down to the rooms and have a shower, then head straight up to the coach’s box,” Jones said.
“There’s always great energy in the stadium on this day, and I think that the most fitting way to acknowledge his legacy would be to double down on the entire message and someday find a cure.”
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
