Collingwood star Nick Daicos is raising his reputation with each passing week.
The son of a gun produced one of his best AFL performances yet in an Anzac Day masterclass, amassing 40 disposals, 605 metres gained, nine score involvements and kicking two clutch fourth quarter goals to lead Collingwood’s thrilling come-from-behind win over Essendon.
With it, Daicos took out Anzac Day Medal honours, and you sense there’ll be a few more accolades to come in his career.
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Indeed, the 20-year old has taken the AFL world by storm in his second season as the current AFL coaches votes leader and short-priced Brownlow Medal favourite.
Magpies coach Craig McRae revealed post-match on Tuesday the young gun “works so hard behind the scenes” in refining parts of his game in a key behind his meteoric rise.
“He’s been enormous for us. He works so hard and behind the scenes, he just gets back to work,” McRae said.
“He’s the first in to watch tapes with his coaches, he’s the first to get on the sprung floor and do hands, he’s doing extras on his game – he’s always looking to be better.
“He’s getting rewarded now and I’m sure it’s not going to be the only time.”
Daicos is performing at an astonishing level we haven’t seen in some time from a second-year player, and from a statistical perspective, it’s been unprecedented.
He’s averaged a league-best 36.7 disposals and ranking first in the competition in effective disposals and metres gained and ranking fifth in score involvements.
The gun’s legendary father Peter declared his son’s first 31 games at the top level have surpassed his own during that same period.
“For sure, they were different eras, but his (first 31 games) have been better … way better,” Peter Daicos told the Herald Sun after Collingwood’s Anzac Day win.
In the opposition coaches’ box, Essendon boss Brad Scott also lauded the impact of the rising star, who landed at Collingwood with Pick 4 in 2021 as a father-son selection.
“I think he’s just a very special player who is doing things that someone in the system for 10 years can’t do,” Scott said post-match on Tuesday.
“But we all knew this coming through. We all watched him as a junior.
“The father-son rule has worked for a few clubs over the journey and we think it’s a really good rule.
“He’s having a huge influence and teams have tried different things to try and curtail it and he finds a way to get around it.
“He’s always going to get the ball. You can do your best to stop it, but he went from the 18th-ranked player on the ground at three-quarter time to the first or second by the end of the game.
“That’s just a quality player stepping up at the right time and we couldn’t match it.”
Playing predominantly across half back but moving into other roles when required – such as his electric shift forward against Essendon – Daicos’ play has played a massive role in flag favourite Collingwood’s 5-1 start to the season.
Tuesday marked the third time in six games this year Daicos recorded over thirty disposals and kicked multiple goals – a feat no other player in the league has done it more than once.
Given his impact, it’s come as a surprise teams haven’t put more work into shutting down Daicos, with Port Adelaide the only opponent to attempt to genuinely tag him with Lachie Jones – a tag Daicos easily overcame.
Fox Footy pundits were also in awe of what the Magpies prodigy has achieved so early in his career.
“Sometimes we come here and do these shows and go: ‘We can’t keep talking about the same bloke’,” former Demons skipper Garry Lyon told On the Couch.
“Well if he keeps playing footy in this manner, we will keep talking about him every single week.
“He did it everywhere. At the start of the (Anzac Day) game (Jake) Stringer went to him and sort of gave him half a bump and that was it, because he went it and did what he wanted.”
Meanwhile former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley suggested we hadn’t seen a second-player of Daicos’ ilk since some of the game’s all-time greats.
“He makes the game look simple and that’s what all the guns do. He makes the simple decisions and does the ordinary extraordinarily well,” Buckley said of Daicos.
“What a gun, like have we had anyone (have so much impact in their second year)? Chris Judd we talk about and Joel Selwood jumped into his career very early.’
To which Lyon responded: “They weren’t getting numbers like that. When I say numbers, not just possession numbers, influence.”
Buckley added with a laugh: “I would’ve loved to have coached him, it would’ve made life a bit easier.”
For AFL 360 co-host Gerard Healy, Daicos is the clear Brownlow Medal frontrunner, also drawing comparisons between the young star and Eagles and Blues champion Judd.
“I’ve got no doubt he’s leading the Brownlow, and if teams can’t figure out how to stop what he does given Collingwood’s determination to put the ball in his hands, he’ll make that a one-horse race on Brownlow night,” Whateley said of Daicos on AFL 360.
“It does take you back to the arrival of Chris Judd and just how it was a competition-wide phenomenon. It just wasn’t West Coast fans and it’s not just Collingwood fans, they are incredibly watchable anyway.
“But to see this player in his second year. I feel like there’ll be this whole push for him, we would love to see him win the lot in his second year of footy just to show it can be done.
“The Rising Star one year and what the next?”
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Three-time Coleman medallist Jason Dunstall marvelled at Daicos’ character both on and off the field and pondered his frightening ceiling with more improvement.
“We spoke to him post game and it was a fantastic interview. He’s a very humble young man and spoke particularly well,” Dunstall said on AFL 360.
“But there is this expectation he goes where’s needed. He plays off half back most of the time and will have a stint in the midfield when they need something, and if they’re behind, he pushes forward.
“He does kick a goal every time they need one, such is the confidence in this young man and ability to impose himself on a contest. It’s exciting to watch him play.
“I don’t know where the roof is on what he’s going to produce. I asked him where do you see your future and he said in the midfield. How can you go any better than what you’re doing at the moment!? He said I might get less possession but I can have more impact.
“Gee, 40 (disposals) and a couple of goals is not bad impact.”
