Neale Daniher
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth | February 15, 1961 , Ungarie, New South Wales |
| Recruited from | Ungarie, New South Wales |
| Height and weight | 188 cm / 84 kg |
| Playing career¹ | |
| Debut | 1979, Essendon vs. , at |
| Team(s) | Essendon (1979-1990) 82 games, 32 goals |
| Coaching career¹ | |
| Team(s) | Melbourne Demons (1998-2007) 223 games
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| ¹ Statistics to end of Round 13, 2007 season | |
| Career highlights | |
Neale Daniher (born February 15, 1961 in Ungarie, New South Wales) is a former Australian rules football player and former Melbourne coach.
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[edit] Playing career
Originally from Ungarie, Daniher played for the Essendon Football Club in the VFL, and is one of the four Daniher brothers (the others being Terry, Chris and Anthony) to have played for Essendon. He made only 82 senior appearances (and kicked 32 goals) for the club before injuries cut his career short. His first stint in the game was from 1979-1981, before he had a knee injury and then came back in 1985, got another knee injury, and then returned in 1989-1990. Despite injuries playing havoc with his career, he captained the team in the 1982 season and won the 1981 Best and Fairest award for Essendon. His career was a case of "what might have been".
[edit] Coaching career
Daniher became an assistant coach in the 1990s, working for both Essendon and the Fremantle Dockers, before coaching the Victorian State of Origin team for two years.
[edit] Melbourne Football Club
In 1998, he was appointed as the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club, a position in which he served for 9 years.
2000 saw Daniher lead his side to the Grand Final against Essendon, but the Demons were comprehensively beaten by a team who lost just one game for the entire season.
In the 2004 pre-season, with Melbourne struggling for membership and requiring the competitive balance fund for survival, Daniher made a more concerted effort to be more outspoken in the media - and became known as "The Reverend" for his 'preaching' skills. This helped the club's membership and public profile (a semi-final appearance in that year's Wizard Cup also helped). After making the semi-finals of the Wizard Cup, the Demons then led the AFL ladder after 18 rounds by winning 14 out of 18 games, before a 4 game losing streak saw them miss the top 4 altogether and finish 5th, where they were knocked out of the finals in the first week by Essendon.
2005 saw the Demons enjoy a similar run near the top of the ladder, but another late-season fade-out saw them temporarily lose their spot in the eight, before reclaiming their position with close wins over the Western Bulldogs and Geelong. They were comprehensively beaten by Geelong in the elimination final, which saw a second consecutive first week exit for the club. The Demons improved in 2006, making the semi-finals after losing the first 3 games of the season, then coming back but fading in the last 7 games.
On June 27th, 2007, he announced he would resign at the end of the 2007 season after the Demons started the year with nine straight defeats. They won their next two matches, but a poor showing in a 49-point loss against cellar dwellers, Richmond in Round 12 2007, put pressure on Daniher's coaching tenure. On June 29th, 2007, he officially announced that Round 13 clash against Essendon will be his last game as Melbourne Demons coach. They lost the match by 2 points. The team was coached by Mark Riley (assistant coach) until the end of the season.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Tim Watson |
Essendon Best and Fairest winner 1981 |
Succeeded by Terry Daniher |
| Preceded by Greg Hutchison |
Melbourne Football Club Coach 1998-2007 |
Succeeded by Mark Riley |
