Less than an hour before the first bounce, Nathan Buckley and Simon Goodwin plunged into ice.
For one of them, things would only get colder from there.

All 18 AFL coaches committed themselves to the punishment that for most of us is rare and unusual, but for their players is just another Monday.

Essendon coach John Worsfold, dressed as Neale Daniher complete with mullet and 1980s woollen jumper, admitted this was the only thing 18 AFL coaches could agree on.

The cause was the Big Freeze to raise money to find a cure for Motor Neurone Disease, which has afflicted Neale Daniher – one of the coaches’ own – and will surely kill him.

The coaches all agreed to the plunge without hesitation.