Neale Daniher funeral: MCG crowd gathers for AFL legend to pay tribute to FightMND campaigner

What a perfect service, which of course Neale was involved in planning – the music, in particular, I’m sure, if he’s as tyrannical on the aux as his son Ben said.

It was lovely to hear more about the man off the field and behind the scenes. Everyone has a story about Neale.

We are going to close out the live blog now, but feel free to keep the conversation going. If you’ve got your own favourite memory of Neale, we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

And a reminder, if you want to pay a tribute, the family is inviting people to make donations to fightmnd.org.au in lieu of flowers.

Play on.

It wouldn’t be Neale Daniher’s funeral without Mr. Brightside. The Killers’ track was famously a favourite of his.

His family have a long way to walk, following the funeral hearse down the guard of honour, which stretches hundreds of metres along Daniher’s Way.

People observe the procession with quiet contemplation, before breaking into applause as Neale and his family pass.

It’s lovely to see so many blue beanies.

You and me both, Yvonne.

Fagan finishes the last tribute of the service with a sentiment I think many Australians would echo.

“I’ve got three heroes in my life – my dad, my mum and Neale … thank you, Neale, for making this world a better place.”

And now some music to accompany a beautiful slide show of Neale’s life.

In his own words, “life gives you opportunity, it doesn’t ever say it will be fair”. But when all’s said and done, “I’ve been dealt a great hand”.

Cam Taylor, a Tambellup farmer and friend of Neale, was given strict instructions by Jan for his speech: “Make sure you give Neale a bit of a roast”.

Their kids – both called Ben – were friends first. One day, Cam came around to the Danihers’ house to pick up his son.

“Neale opened the door and said, ‘Who are you?’”

Cam tried small talk – “Eagles going well?” – before his son came to the door, at which point Neale looked at him and said, “Take your son and nick off”.

“[He’s a] bit of an ass, I thought, as we walked to the car. Little did I know that that brief foot in the door moment would lead to a wonderful friendship.”

Neale was nothing if not consistent – the advice he gave was the advice he lived by.

Former Melbourne skipper and two-time All-Australian David Neitz remembers a story he told the team once about a pack of lions attacking an antelope and a wildebeest.

The antelope quickly accepted its fate, but not so for the wildebeest.

“He didn’t roll over. He fought … in the end, the lions got the wildebeest. But the wildebeest went down fighting … play like a wildebeest.”

This was over two decades ago. The average length of time someone lives for after being diagnosed with MND is about 27 months. Neale played on for 13 years. Safe to say, he fought like a wildebeest until the end.