What time is the big freeze slide 2026, and what has changed is the AFL’s voting process for the Neale Daniher Trophy after Neale Daniher’s passing. The award will now be decided by coach votes, with the Daniher family holding the casting vote if needed.
Andrew Dillon said the updated process would ensure the trophy continued to honour Daniher’s extraordinary contribution to football and the broader Australian community. The change also keeps the award tied to the Big Freeze and the King’s Birthday match at the MCG, where the symbolic weight of the game now comes with a clearer role for the family at the centre of it.
King’s Birthday at the MCG
The Neale Daniher Trophy will be presented after the Big Freeze match between Melbourne and Collingwood at the MCG on Monday afternoon. That places the trophy in one of the AFL’s most visible fixtures, with the award now sitting inside the match-day ceremony rather than outside it.
At the conclusion of the game, Melbourne coach Steven King and Collingwood coach Craig McRae will each award 3-2-1 votes to the players they believe best demonstrated bravery, resilience, unity, care, conviction and selflessness. The trophy will go to the player who finishes with the highest number of votes.
Family Vote For The Trophy
The votes will then be provided to the Daniher family, who will award the trophy to the player with the highest total. If the count is tied, the family will have the casting vote. That gives the family the final say in an award built around Daniher’s mantra to “Play On.”
Dillon said, “We wanted the Neale Daniher Trophy to more explicitly recognise the qualities and values that Neale lived every day.” He added, “Neale inspired millions of Australians through his courage, resilience, optimism, generosity, and unwavering commitment to others. Those values sit at the heart of the Big Freeze and the King's Birthday match, and it is fitting they are now reflected in the way the trophy is awarded.”
Big Freeze Tribute Shift
The change comes after Daniher’s passing, and it sharpens the tribute without altering the match itself. Coaches now identify the players who best embodied the award’s values, while the Daniher family controls the final decision, making the presentation more personal and less mechanical than a standard post-match medal vote.
For Monday afternoon at the MCG, that means the most watched part of the tribute is not just the slide, but who the two coaches and the Daniher family decide best carried Neale Daniher’s legacy across Melbourne and Collingwood’s Big Freeze meeting.
