Tensions boiled over between players at the start of Sunday’s match between Sydney and Collingwood – and unsurprisingly, Nick Daicos and Ryan Clarke were in the thick of it.
Scuffles broke out everywhere during the opening minutes of the first quarter at the MCG in the two clubs first meeting since last year’s preliminary final where the Swans won by one point.
There was tension between the two sides before the ball had even been bounced, with Tom Papley – and several other Swans players – bumping and niggling Daicos seconds before the first siren as Clarke eventually made his way to the Magpies star.
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The Swans then moved the ball forward, with Clarke receiving a handball from Ollie Florent, sprinting away from Daicos and nailing a stunning running goal from 50m out to kick Sydney’s first.
Cue an array of spotfires, with Papley, Clarke, Hayden McLean and Chad Warner all rushing to Daicos to let him know all about the fact his direct opponent had just kicked a goal. Warner even rubbed Daicos’ head.
“They (the Swans) are intent on, No. 1 kicking goals and, No. 2 putting Nick Daicos off his game,” Coleman Medallist Brian Taylor told Channel 7.
“It’s not very often the youngest player on the field attracts this sort of attention.”
Demons AFLW premiership skipper Daisy Pearce added: “We asked the question pre-game who would tag Nick Daicos. Well it’s Ryan Clarke – and every other one of the 17 Swans players that are out there. But Collingwood are saying: ‘We’re not going to cop it, we’re going to give it back.’”
But when Papley went again at Daicos and bumped him in the back, the umpire paid a free kick against the Swans for prohibited contact.
Daicos’ brother Josh and teammate Brayden Maynard then went to Papley and wrestled him to the ground, while Magpie Oleg Markov and Swan Marc Sheather tangled too.
As players scuffled inside Collingwood’s forward 50, Daicos kicked the ball forward where Will Hoskin-Elliott gathered and snapped the Pies’ second goal.
Daicos, as well as several other Magpies players, then went to Clarke.
Clarke is being mauled here,” Taylor said.
“It’s been a hectic start.”
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Umpire Matt Stevic was then seen having a quiet word to Clarke and Daicos.
“It went a bit more than push and shove as well, it went on for ages,” triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown told Fox Footy. “It went on for the first four or five minutes behind the play
“Obviously they had his name with a big fat circle around it before the game from Johnny Longmire. He would’ve told all his players not just Ryan Clarke, to put a little bit of body contact (on Daicos). But things escalated really quickly.
“Maynard and his teammates were aware of it and ready to fly the flag. It was great to see, I loved it.”
The Magpies led by 15 point at quarter-time before the Swans kicked four goals on the trot to take an eight-point lead into the half-time break.
“It hasn’t been a dominant performance (by Daicos). He’s had 13 disposals, but they haven’t been as significant as they were previously,” triple All-Australian Nick Dal Santo told Fox Footy.
“Ryan Clarke is doing a significant job … but you’ve got to do it for four quarters.”
