Chills, they're multiplying as Big Freeze fights beast
The 10 sliders rose to the occasion at the 11th Big Freeze, the fundraiser at the MCG that honours FightMND icon and Australian Of The Year Neale Daniher.
As always, amid the fun of 10 celebrities in goofy dress-up sliding into a minus-six degrees ice bath for a good cause, there was pathos and heartache.
Daniher is now confined to a wheelchair and can only talk through eye recognition software as he continues his long fight against MND, which is incurable.
His daughter Bec now does much of the spruiking for their cause.
Big Freeze is held before the King's Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood.
As Demons players warmed up, they all went to greet Daniher, the former Melbourne coach, as he completed a lap of the MCG. Collingwood players also helped form a guard of honour for him.
The theme this year was Australian icons and national cricket captain Alyssa Healy was Sharon "Shazza" Strezlecki, the netballer from Kath and Kim.
Magda Szubanski, who has revealed she is battling an aggressive cancer, made "Shazza" an all-time great Australian TV comedy character.
Healy did it justice, complete with neck brace and a suitably stunned expression as she walked out for her slide.
Former Australian captain Mark Taylor, the last slider, dressed as Shane Warne - Shazza's crush. The slide, fittingly, was set up in the shadow of the Shane Warne stand.
Actor Matt Nable came as Angus Young from AC-DC and remembered his brother Aaron, who died of MND last year.
Cadel Evans, the only Australian to win the Tour de France, was a miniature Max Gawn and the Melbourne captain greeted him after his slide.
Gawn, who stands at 2.08m, is also an avid cyclist and Evans, all 174cm of him, is one of his idols.
"Your worst day on the bike is better than my best day on a footy field," Evans told Gawn.
Swimming great Ariarne Titmus was Sandy from Grease, played by Olivia Newton-John, and as the song from the movie goes, chills were multiplying in the ice bath.
Former Melbourne star Aaron Davey honoured AFL and Indigenous great Michael Long, while TV presenter and former sprinter Matt Shirvington was Chris Hemsworth's movie character Thor.
A $10,000 bet was made that Shirvington would stay in his costume for the flight back to Sydney.
Peter Daicos, whose sons Nick and Josh were playing for the Magpies on Monday, always loves the limelight and he came as Heath Ledger's iconic Joker.
National netball captain Liz Watson was in all pink as Margot Robbie's Cowgirl Barbie and motor sport great Craig Lowndes was in all black as Mad Max.
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"It's a mecca of sport, this place, in my eyes," Potter said. "If I can be out here on Saturday night against the British and Irish Lions, it would be a pretty special place to play the game." Potter was in the crowd the last time the Wallabies hosted the Lions in Melbourne, in 2013. Wallabies winger Harry Potter has rubbished Clive Woodward's suggestion there is a "losing mentality" in Australian rugby ahead of the do-or-die second Test against the Lions in Melbourne. England's World Cup-winning coach Woodward criticised the Wallabies after captain Harry Wilson's decision to kick the ball out to end the first Test in Brisbane rather than chase another try. It might have come as some relief to Wallabies fans that their underdogs weren't mauled by the Lions in the series-opening 27-19 defeat. But Potter on Wednesday said Joe Schmidt's men aren't content with simply competing with the Lions. "It's pretty ridiculous to suggest that the 23 people who played on the weekend have a mentality of losing," Potter said at the MCG, which will host the second Test on Saturday night. "We went out there to win the game, and we didn't win the game. "But it was our intention very much and you could tell from every player in the team we wanted to win that game." He said it had been tough looking back at the first Test, in which the Wallabies were out-muscled by the tourists and trailed 24-5 after 42 minutes. Two late tries added some respectability to the scoreboard and gave the Wallabies belief they can turn the tables in Melbourne, with Potter urging his team to heed the lessons learnt. They could also take pointers from the aggressive performance of the First Nations and Pasifika team, which ruffled the Lions' feathers in a narrow 24-19 defeat on Tuesday night. "It felt like we didn't put our best foot forward, particularly in the first 50 or 60 minutes," Potter said of the Wallabies' first Test showing. "There were a lot of lessons to take out of that one. "They're an incredibly strong team and we know that we've got to come out better and start the game stronger. "But I suppose there were some positive signs towards the end of the game. "If we can string enough things together then we'll go a lot better than what we did." Potter said the Wallabies had no need to address the do-or-die nature of the second Test, as they seek to emulate the 2001 Australian side that recovered from 1-0 down to claim a famous 2-1 series win against the Lions. "Everyone's on the same page; you know you have to win this game to keep the series alive," Potter said. "Emotionally it's very simple this week and we all know the task at hand, so I don't think anyone's got any questions about what's at stake." Potter, who will head from Western Force to the NSW Waratahs in the next Super Rugby season, endured a frustrating night on a personal level in Brisbane. And former Wallabies captain, Michael Hooper, this week suggested Hunter Paisami be injected into the centres for the Melbourne Test, a move that would shift Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to the wing and bump Potter out of the side. The London-born 27-year-old lived a period of his youth in Melbourne and said it would be a dream to play at the MCG. "It's a mecca of sport, this place, in my eyes," Potter said. "If I can be out here on Saturday night against the British and Irish Lions, it would be a pretty special place to play the game." Potter was in the crowd the last time the Wallabies hosted the Lions in Melbourne, in 2013. Wallabies winger Harry Potter has rubbished Clive Woodward's suggestion there is a "losing mentality" in Australian rugby ahead of the do-or-die second Test against the Lions in Melbourne. England's World Cup-winning coach Woodward criticised the Wallabies after captain Harry Wilson's decision to kick the ball out to end the first Test in Brisbane rather than chase another try. It might have come as some relief to Wallabies fans that their underdogs weren't mauled by the Lions in the series-opening 27-19 defeat. But Potter on Wednesday said Joe Schmidt's men aren't content with simply competing with the Lions. "It's pretty ridiculous to suggest that the 23 people who played on the weekend have a mentality of losing," Potter said at the MCG, which will host the second Test on Saturday night. "We went out there to win the game, and we didn't win the game. "But it was our intention very much and you could tell from every player in the team we wanted to win that game." He said it had been tough looking back at the first Test, in which the Wallabies were out-muscled by the tourists and trailed 24-5 after 42 minutes. Two late tries added some respectability to the scoreboard and gave the Wallabies belief they can turn the tables in Melbourne, with Potter urging his team to heed the lessons learnt. They could also take pointers from the aggressive performance of the First Nations and Pasifika team, which ruffled the Lions' feathers in a narrow 24-19 defeat on Tuesday night. "It felt like we didn't put our best foot forward, particularly in the first 50 or 60 minutes," Potter said of the Wallabies' first Test showing. "There were a lot of lessons to take out of that one. "They're an incredibly strong team and we know that we've got to come out better and start the game stronger. "But I suppose there were some positive signs towards the end of the game. "If we can string enough things together then we'll go a lot better than what we did." Potter said the Wallabies had no need to address the do-or-die nature of the second Test, as they seek to emulate the 2001 Australian side that recovered from 1-0 down to claim a famous 2-1 series win against the Lions. "Everyone's on the same page; you know you have to win this game to keep the series alive," Potter said. "Emotionally it's very simple this week and we all know the task at hand, so I don't think anyone's got any questions about what's at stake." Potter, who will head from Western Force to the NSW Waratahs in the next Super Rugby season, endured a frustrating night on a personal level in Brisbane. And former Wallabies captain, Michael Hooper, this week suggested Hunter Paisami be injected into the centres for the Melbourne Test, a move that would shift Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii to the wing and bump Potter out of the side. The London-born 27-year-old lived a period of his youth in Melbourne and said it would be a dream to play at the MCG. "It's a mecca of sport, this place, in my eyes," Potter said. "If I can be out here on Saturday night against the British and Irish Lions, it would be a pretty special place to play the game." Potter was in the crowd the last time the Wallabies hosted the Lions in Melbourne, in 2013.
