EXCLUSIVE
Two themes dominated Aaron Nable’s crowded funeral Tuesday: the enormous heart of the man they all said goodbye to and the cruelty of the disease that ended his life.
Hundreds of mourners filled every pew at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Manly on Sydney’s northern beaches for a service that lasted more than an hour and a half.
There were well-known faces from the football, boxing and entertainment worlds, but as always for the father of three children, family and friends were mainly present at his final farewell.
The wider public came to know Aaron through his brother Matt, a former first-class rugby league player for Manly and Souths who became an acclaimed actor and writer.
Actor Matt Nable was joined by hundreds of mourners to say goodbye to his younger brother Aaron, who died earlier this month from motor neurone disease
Fox Sports presenter and Nable family friend Matty Johns attended the service at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Manly on Tuesday
Aaron Nable was diagnosed with ALS in July 2020 and died on March 3. He is pictured with brother Matt
When Aaron was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in July 2020, Matt began talking openly about the devastating fate that awaits everyone.
The motor nerve cells in the brain of a patient with MND break down, gradually weakening the body’s muscles and causing paralysis until he or she dies.
“What this disease does is just the hardest thing to watch,” Matt said last year.
The Nable family launched a GoFundMe appeal that has raised more than $100,000 for ALS research and to help support Aaron’s children and partner.
Aaron, who was an amateur Australian boxing champion at the age of 19, died on March 3 at the age of 46 as the NRL prepared to play its season-opening matches in Las Vegas.
Matt had shot a promotional video for that blockbuster double-header last year as one of the voices of rugby league for Fox Sports.
The great NRL commentator Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach was among the mourners
Legendary boxing trainer Johnny Lewis helped Aaron win an Australian amateur boxing title
Penrith NRL coach Ivan Cleary (above) and Matt Nable both played for the Manly Sea Eagles
Among the mourners on Tuesday were former rugby league representatives Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach, Geoff Toovey, John Hopoate and Phil Blake.
Also in attendance were Matt’s Fox Sports colleagues, including presenter Matty Johns, general manager Steve Crawley and Aaron’s old boxing trainer Johnny Lewis.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary joined the meeting, as did footballer turned boxer Garth Wood and his brother Nat, who played in the NRL and Super League.
Ex-detective Gary Jubelin, who played Matt in Underbelly: Badness was there, as was Thomas Keneally, the Booker Prize-winning author and Matt’s writing mentor.
Father John Hannon welcomed the congregation, which he said was the largest the church had held since Christmas, for what he called both “a celebration of the life of a good man” and “a very sad event.”
The priest was the first speaker to bring up ALS, revealing that it had killed his own father.
Father John Hannon called the funeral both “a celebration of the life of a good man” and “a very sad event.” Matt Nable is shown embracing a mourner
John Hopoate (above) played rugby league for Manly, NSW, Tonga and Australia
Former Manly player and coach Geoff Toovey was among those who came to pay their respects on Tuesday
Matt, who starred in the Australian film The Dry and the Hollywood war film Hacksaw Ridge, spoke about Aaron as a son, brother, friend, partner and parent.
“His love was great,” he said. “He was one of the best I ever knew.”
Matt remembered a waterfront worker and strong unionist who defended those weaker than himself and had an innate drive to care for the marginalized.
“What Aaron saw more clearly than most people was the inequalities of life,” Nable said.
“He was in your corner. He had your back and you never doubted how much he loved you.”
Aaron’s partner of almost ten years, Aline, spoke through her immense grief about an “extraordinary man” who had given her more love than she ever thought possible.
She described a character imbued with magnetism who loved politics, hated injustice and lit up a room with his “sparkling blue eyes.”
Footballer turned boxer Garth Wood (above) once knocked out Anthony Mundine in the ring
Aaron died as the NRL prepared to play its season-opening games in Las Vegas
The line to sign a book of condolence for Aaron Nable stretched to a nearby road
Aaron, she said, deeply loved his parents Kris and David, older siblings Rebecca, Damien, Matt and Adam, and especially his sons Luca, Benjamin and Francisco.
Aline called him her ‘co-pilot’.
“I want you to remember Aaron as I do,” she said. ‘The nicest man on earth.’
Aline said she didn’t realize how cruel MND was until she saw what it did to Aaron’s body. It stole his ability to walk, speak and swallow.
“No matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t take MND away from him,” she said.
Aaron died peacefully at home with his children, partner, parents and siblings taking turns holding his hands in those final moments.
Nat Wood (above) played for Balmain, Sydney City and the New Zealand Warriors before playing in the Super League
Josh Stuart (in black) played for North Sydney and the Northern Eagles
Aline thanked everyone who had looked after Aaron by name, including Professor Dominic Rowe from Macquarie University’s Department of Neurology.
“Aaron, my darling, I love you and I will always cherish every moment we shared together,” she said.
“Thank you everyone for remembering Aaron and for joining us to celebrate the life of a truly remarkable man.”
Aaron’s sister Rebecca said that when her “Azza” could no longer speak, he blinked to tell her “I love you.”
“He was a true warrior, a hero,” she said. ‘I am so very proud to be your sister. Always and forever I love you.’
For a fighter who had been so physically strong, Aaron spent his childhood fearing everything from the dark to the devil and funnel-web spiders.
Father John Hannon said he had not seen so many people at Mary Immaculate Church since Christmas
Matt Nable remembered his brother as a man who defended those weaker than him and had an innate drive to care for the marginalized
As an adult, he ended every text or phone call to family and friends by telling them he loved them.
Aaron’s biggest role had been fatherhood and Matt said the family would make sure “the boys would never doubt who he was.”
“He enjoyed nothing more in his life than being a father,” he said. “And nothing was more important.”
Matt called MND a ‘terrible, terminal disease’, with ‘no hope of recovery, you will undoubtedly die’.
On the Friday before Aaron died, Professor Rowe told Matt that his brother could no longer be fed because his body would not absorb food or water.
Professor Rowe said Aaron was the toughest person he had known and that there was ‘daylight’ between him and the next toughest.
“He said, ‘Son, he’s at the end now, but I’m going to tell you this: I’ve never met a patient like your brother.’
At the end of the service, Fr Hannon invited the mourners to Harbord Diggers for a vigil with a fitting final sentence: ‘I hope it’s big enough’.