WA Freeze: Denmark’s Alby Giuntoli runs out with Eagles at Optus Stadium on June 1 for Motor Neurone Disease

Denmark’s Alby Giuntoli will become one of the youngest West Coast Eagles mascots when the five-year-old runs out with the team at the Optus Stadium next month to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease. Returning to Perth on June 1 as West Coast Eagles take on St Kilda, the WA Freeze will throw its support behind all those affected by MND and raise vital money for research. Alby will be running out onto the oval in Eagles colours to honour his late grandpa Neale France who succumbed to the disease aged 59 in December 2021 after he was diagnosed just 13 months earlier. “(MND) took everything from Neale and us, except love,” Alby’s grandmother Carla France said. “I’m so excited for my family to be doing this — it’s truly about Neale and others fighting this disease”. “If we can’t use our pain to help others, what’s it for?” Alby, who plays Auskick and regularly watches AFL with his family, nodded excitedly when asked if he was thrilled to run with the Eagles. “Nic Nat Nui (Nic Naitanui) is my favourite,” Alby said. He also agreed when Mrs France and mum Alex Kobel both described his grandfather as “the biggest, loudest, most annoying Eagles supporter”. When Mrs France found out Alby had been chosen by campaign organiser FightMND as the Eagles’ mascot for the WA Freeze game, she was convinced her late husband played a hand in it from above. “He’s orchestrated this, I’m most certain of that,” Mrs France said. Mrs France advises those affected by MND to advocate for themselves and “get all the help you can”. “It takes everything, and it takes it fast,” Ms Kobel said. “People aren’t aware how vicious, cruel, and quickly it can happen”. The WA Freeze is an offshoot of the Big Freeze, an annual campaign set up a decade ago by former Essendon player and FightMND co-founder Neale Daniher who was diagnosed with MND in 2013. The annual campaign raises vital money for research and funds clinical trials across Australia, driving better treatment and cure for the disease. “The Big Freeze is so fantastic because it brings MND to everyone’s attention and raises money, which is crucial,” Ms Kobel said. “Australia has gone from being in the backwater of MND research to almost the top of the ladder,” Mrs France said. “Let’s hope there will be a cure to this disease, and we won’t need the Big Freeze, the beanies, and nobody else will have to suffer”. After Alby takes the team out on to the field, local celebrities Eagles senior coach Daisy Pearce and former Eagles player Andrew Embley will be dunked into ice-cold water. The WA Freeze will take place on June 1 when West Coast Eagles take on Saint Kilda at the Optus Stadium in Perth.