Daniher played for the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup, he was named All-Australian in the AFL Under 18 Championships playing for Vic Metro and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Sport's AFL Academy. He is the son of former AFL fullback, Anthony Daniher, who played 115 games for and 118 games for.
AFL career
Daniher was drafted by under the father-son rule, with the tenth overall selection in the 2012 national draft. He was also eligible to be drafted by, but chose to join the Bombers, where his brother Darcy Daniher was a team member at the time. He made his debut against in round 11, 2013. In his second game, he was named among the best players, kicking his first AFL goal and scoring a total of three goals in the match. He showed positive progression in his second season, leading the club in goal kicking with 28 for the season including 4 goals against North Melbourne in an Elimination Final at the MCG. Despite his skinny frame and inaccurate kicking at goal, he showed immense promise and started to state his claim as one of the best young key forwards in the league. Daniher entered the 2015 AFL season as the clubs spearhead up forward, a challenging task, considering it was only his third season of senior football. Despite kicking only 34 goals for the entire season, Joe showed improvement in many key areas of his game, especially accuracy at goal, this was due to the fact that former legend Matthew Lloyd helped him with this throughout the year. He led the club's goal kicking for a second consecutive season and showed more presence on the field. In 2016, he continued to grow as a footballer and leader, being named in the clubs leadership group and finished the season with a career-high in marks and goals. He won the club goal kicking award for a third consecutive year and was joint runner-up with James Kelly in the W.S. Crichton Medal. Daniher started the 2017 AFL season, reaching his potential as one of the best forwards in the league, winning both the Anzac Day Medal and the inaugural Tom Wills Medal in the Country Game against. He finished as the club's leading goal kicker for a fourth straight season, he received his debut All-Australian Team selection and won his first W. S. Crichton Medal. Daniher started the 2018 AFL season substantially worse than the previous year averaging less than a goal a game and having an overall lesser impact on the competition. After round 7, scans revealed early onset of osteitis pubis causing Daniher to miss the rest of the season. After a strong pre-season Daniher looked set for a big 2019 season however a mysterious calf injury sustained in training meant he would miss the first 4 rounds of the 2019 AFL season. Despite not being named for round 5, Daniher had been given a late call up for the Bombers in round 5 on Good Friday against the Kangaroos. As Daniher was not named on Essendon's initial list for the round the Bombers incurred a fine however Daniher proved his worth kicking 2 goals including one from over 55 metres out. After 2 matches, Daniher was ruled out for the remainder of 2019 due to a groin injury. Toward the conclusion of season 2019, Daniher had requested a trade to Sydney, but as Sydney could not satisfy Essendon's trade request. Daniher will remain at Essendon for season 2020.
