FOOTY legend Neale Daniher has revealed his battle with deadly motor neurone disease and plans to dedicate what remains of his life educating the public about the condition.

The former Essendon champion and Melbourne coach has vowed to tackle the cruel and ­incurable disease with the same courage and determination that defined his football career.

Speaking publicly for the first time to friend and ­former Bombers teammate Tim Watson in an interview to air on Seven News on Monday night, Daniher delivered a blunt ­assessment of the disease ­slowly killing him.

“There’s no prevention. No treatment. No cure,’’ he said.

Daniher, 53, first recognised a problem when he had trouble hanging washing on the line and was diagnosed last year after nine months of tests.

“I thought, well I’ve got a weakness in my hands and I’ll fix it,’’ he said in the Channel 7 interview.

“Modern science. A few ­injections. A few tablets. Nothing serious. I’ll be back putting clothes on the line again.”

But his life was turned ­upside down when told he had a disease that leads to a slow, gradual death.

“I didn’t know a lot about it, but I knew you didn’t want to get it,’’ he said.

Daniher announced last September he would stand down as West Coast Eagles football operations boss due to health reasons but has until now kept his condition private.

He will quit football and move his family back to ­Melbourne to start work on a public campaign to raise awareness of the disease, ­recruiting AFL stars to help spread the message.

“A tragedy of the disease is you’re a witness to your body dying,’’ he said.

“But every 12 hours someone gets MND in Australia, and every 12 hours someone dies. It’s an anonymous killer. Not many people know about it.”

Daniher, who coached Melbourne to the 2000 AFL Grand Final and played 82 games for Essendon in a career cut short by injury, will also focus on fundraising for research.

“We need to find some treatment, prevention and a cure,’’ he said.

About two Australians die a day from the disease, which progressively robs sufferers of the use of arms, legs and ability to speak, swallow and breathe but normally does not affect their mind and senses.

Daniher has started slurring his words and has difficulty with his hands but is still physically active and said a positive approach was essential.

“You don’t cope by fear. You just day-by-day exist,’’ he said. “You just get on with life and enjoy life and there’s a lot to enjoy.

“And you don’t cope by thinking where this will end up? There’s no fun in that. You don’t get many laughs in that.”

The average life expectancy after diagnosis is 27 months but, in true fighting spirit, ­Daniher said he would play the game on his own terms.

“It’s important that people who’ve heard the diagnosis know that, on average, it’s two to four years to live but I might bump that up a little bit,’’ he said.

You can make a donation to MND Australia here.

peter.rolfe@news.com.au

Originally published as No cure: Footy legend’s shock diagnosis