Adelaide utility Ben Keays’ negating role on Nick Daicos has drawn praise after he nullified the Magpies star’s usual seismic influence despite Collingwood winning a one-point thriller.
Daicos has enjoyed a meteoric rise in his second season as the Brownlow Medal favourite and current AFL coaches votes leader, coming off three-straight games with 40-plus disposals including an Anzac Day masterclass against Essendon.
The 20-year old’s season-low 27 touches with four marks and two score involvements against Adelaide read strong enough, but Keays kept the Pies prodigy accountable and restricted his powerful running game as just the second time this year a rival club has put work into the second-year sensation.
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According to Collingwood coach Craig McRae, the tagging of Daicos was a “a bit of a non-story,” while Crows boss Matthew Nicks was “really pleased” with Keays’ influence.
Speaking on Fox Footy’s On the Couch, triple-premiership winning Lion Jonathan Brown noted Daicos “wasn’t influential like he has been,” while former Demons skipper Garry Lyon said it “sends a message to the rest of the competition you can have an impact” on the young superstar’s game.
Lyon pointed to two Daicos turnovers from kick ins that led to Adelaide goals, questioning if the added attention was affecting him in some way.
“His full back kick ins have been absolutely elite. You can make of this what you will, you don’t know whether his mind’s as clear as what you want,” Lyon said on On the Couch.
“But he’s got something to deal with at the moment, so all of a sudden his kicking out of full back is a bit of an issue.
“He has another opportunity and makes another decision he hasn’t made all year.
“They’re not hanging offences, but you go: ‘OK, what’s happening here?’”
The Melbourne great also highlighted a play where Collingwood turned the ball over and Keays ran forward hard and got separation on Daicos inside 50 as the Crows streamed into attack.
However Lyon believes Adelaide wasn’t as effective as it could’ve been in using Keays in transition.
“Keays’ ability to work off him sort of got inside his head, and I don’t reckon they made the most of Keays either,” Lyon said.
“Look at Keays’ running here, he’s asking the question. Then you’ve got to start to use him and it’s something else that can be thrown back on Nick.
“His hard running was terrific, he asked the question of Nick Daicos, which you’ve got to, if you’re going to play on him. Then it’s up to the others (Crows players) to reciprocate.”
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Another area where Daicos, who’s played just 32 games, dropped off was his stellar kicking efficiency rate.
Going at 91% in Round 1, then 84%, 88%, 76%, 76% and 80%, it dipped to 56% against the Crows, albeit in greasy conditions at Adelaide Oval and in a contest where Collingwood was outplayed for most of the game and got let off the hook by Nicks’ side’s wayward kicking in front of goal.
“It wasn’t just his (Keays) physical pressure on Nick though, it was the running off ball as well that was challenging,” former Collingwod coach Nathan Buckley told On the Couch.
“Keays’ running was not unlike what we saw with (Dayne) Zorko when Brisbane played Collingwood earlier this year.
“The Brisbane forwards got out the back of an aggressive Collingwood defence – and that was clearly a tactic for Adelaide to try and do the same and was under-utilised at times.
“But you can see Keays is running into a defensive structure there that was able to support Nick Daicos’ role.”
