Ray Hadley is urging everybody to listen to a speech which he says is “as powerful as you can get”.

It’s from former AFL player and coach Neale Daniher and it has nothing to do with sport. It’s about life. It’s about adversity. It’s about family.

Neale contracted the incurable and untreatable condition, Motor Neurone Disease (MND), in 2014 and has been rapidly deteriorating ever since.

He will eventually die a slow and painful death but the legacy he leaves behind will last an age.

He started Fight MND, an organisation that has reached all corners of Australia and now has an annual fundraising round in the AFL.

This is his speech to his former club, the Melbourne Demons, before last week’s Fight MND game at the MCG.

“The speech of about four and a half minutes is about as powerful as you can get,” says Ray Hadley.

Ray has been an ambassador in the fight against MND for more than two decades, raising money for research through the sale of his compilation CDs.

“If you’re shedding a tear, don’t be embarrassed or ashamed because perhaps you should be,” says Ray.

Click PLAY below to hear Ray’s full comments

The speech prompted an enormous reaction from listeners, including former Australian and Queensland rugby league star Shane Webcke.

“Ray, I made my kids watch it. it’s had a profound effect on me.

“I’m on the side of the road in the bush, listening. Unreal.”