Neale Daniher | |||
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Personal information | |||
Date of birth | 15 February 1961 | ||
Place of birth | West Wyalong, New South Wales | ||
Original team(s) |
Ungarie (NRFNL) Assumption College |
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Height / weight | 188 cm / 84 kg | ||
Position(s) | Half Back Flank | ||
Playing career1 | |||
Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
1979–1981, 1985, 1989–1990 | Essendon | 82 (32) | |
Coaching career3 | |||
Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
1998–2007 | Melbourne | 223 (108–114–1) | |
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1990.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2007.
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Career highlights | |||
AFL
Essendon Football Club
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AFL
Essendon Football Club
Neale Francis Daniher AM (born 15 February 1961) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the coach of the Melbourne Football Club between 1998 and 2007 and was an assistant coach for the Essendon and Fremantle Football Clubs. Neale's brothers, Terry, Anthony and Chris, also played for Essendon in the AFL. Daniher has been the general manager of football operations for the West Coast Eagles since 2008.
Neale was born the third child of James "Jim" Daniher and Edna Daniher (née Erwin) on 15 February 1961 at West Wyalong Base Hospital. Neale attended St Joseph's Catholic School, Ungarie for his primary education before going to St Patrick's College in Goulburn and later Assumption College, Kilmore, where he would finish Year 12. He would then go to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, where he learned about the emerging technology of the 1980s, such as computers.
It was during his childhood that Neale showed his love for sport, namely Australian rules football, playing in the Northern Riverina Football League (NRFL) on Saturdays while playing rugby league at school carnivals. It was during his time in the NRFL that Neale won several best & fairest awards before going to college, where he would play Australian rules football and rugby union. It was in 1978 that both the South Melbourne and Essendon Football Clubs approached Neale for his signature. After a legal battle between the two clubs, Essendon won the right to recruit Neale, as South Melbourne had signed a contract that said Essendon had this right due to South Melbourne trading Terry to Essendon in exchange for Neville Fields.