Hawks ready to freeze for MND

THE Drysdale Football Netball Club will champion MND and the fight for a cure when it hosts its own Big Freeze event this Saturday, June 4.

In a similar fashion to what occurs at the MCG on Queen’s Birthday weekend for the FightMND match, the club will host their Big Freeze event between their matches against Portarlington, with celebrities and local cult figures set to slide into the pool of ice.

“We are so excited for the event and to shed light on what is still a killer in our society, that being MND,” organiser and Drysdale footballer James Bruest said.

“This is the first event of its kind in the Geelong region and we are absolutely thrilled that we are going to get the ball rolling with an amazing event down at the club.”

Drysdale has been touched by MND in many ways with Bruest’s uncle Neale (Daniher) leading the MND fight in Australia, championing the cause in his nine-year fight.

Just last week the club was also touched by the passing of one of their player’s mother-in-law due to the disease.

“Neale and the work that he has done is hugely admirable and we are so proud of him and the rest of the team that are fighting against this disease to find a cure,” Bruest said.

“For Neale to live through the average of two years with the disease and reach nine is absolutely amazing and is a credit to all the research that is being done at places like Macquarie University in Sydney to try and delve into the crux of the disease.”

Sliders for the event include Bay FM’s Roxie Bennett and Daryl Reader who will slide and MC the event, as well as AFLW player Tess Craven, and many more.

Beanies will be on sale during the day to go towards the FightMND cause.

The festivities are set to kick off at 1.30pm in between the seniors and reserves football and netball matches.

“We can’t wait to see the sea of blue beanies on June 4, and encourage anyone and everyone to come down and be a part of what is sure to be an epic day of importance and fun” Bruest said.

To find out more about the event and to support the cause, search “Big Freeze – Geelong” on Facebook’s Events page.

To donate to the cause, head to fightmnd.org.au