Collingwood have vowed to fight fire with fire if opponents attempt to unsettle star youngster Nick Daicos after the Sydney Swans tried to rattle the 20-year-old early in the tough encounter at the MCG on Sunday.
A mob of Swans players ran to Daicos after his direct opponent Ryan Clarke kicked the Swans’ first goal, in attempt to make the Magpie feel uncomfortable, which led to a melee.
Nick Daicos with Josh Daicos and Jordan De Goey after the Magpies’ win over Sydney.Credit: AFL Photos
Magpies coach Craig McRae backed the players’ response, saying he was happy for them to fly the flag for teammates as long as they did not do anything to give away a free kick.
“We want to be a team that does that. We have said that often. If someone comes at us, you know we’re gonna go back at them within the rules,” McRae said.
“I was really pleased – and last week was the same – [that] if someone comes at us there was a flying the flag, if we’re using that language, but there is not a stepping over the rules of the game. We don’t want to be undisciplined, but we stand up for each other.”
Daicos was involved in a passage of play that led to a goal to Will Hoskin-Elliott soon after Clarke’s goal, with McRae rapt with the 20-year-old’s last quarter when he had 10 disposals to help the Magpies surge ahead of Sydney.
Nick Daicos came in for plenty of attention against the Swans.Credit: Getty Images
The coach had no issue with Sydney’s approach, seeing it as part of the arc of Daicos’ career. He said they expected Daicos to be tagged and had plans in place to exploit that decision.
“[It’s a] natural part of any good player in the competition. This is his lot right now. [He is a] second-year player going really well and the opposition want to take that away,” McRae said.
Sydney coach John Longmire said players needed to be emotionally invested to ensure they won the contested ball and kept the pressure high. He said the players’ approach was fine, although he bemoaned that they also conceded a free kick at one stage of the game when Collingwood’s Taylor Adams was knocked over off the ball and Sydney were penalised.
“You’re going to have a level of emotional investment going in to be able to execute the basic skills,” Longmire said. “I thought their intent was pretty right, as long as you don’t give away free kicks. We gave away a couple of free kicks.”
Lance Franklin and Darcy Moore on Sunday.Credit: AFL Photos
Longmire was bemused that a section of Collingwood supporters chose to boo one of the game’s greats, Lance Franklin, throughout the game when he won possession.
“I don’t know why they would, why would they boo him, why would you boo him. You’d probably celebrate a 36-year-old wouldn’t you that has been a champion of the game,” Longmire said.
“It’s been 10 years since we played Collingwood here. Why would you boo one of the champions of the game.”
Franklin did not kick a goal, with Longmire saying they are working hard to use other targets inside 50 and become less predictable going forward.
However, it wasn’t Franklin’s fault, nor the coaching staff, that Sydney did not win, with Longmire saying their inaccuracy in front of goal made it hard for them to translate their periods of dominance into scoreboard pressure.
“You have to have the confidence to go back and put the ball over into Punt Road. It’s as simple as that. It’s part of the game, taking those moments and getting some reward when we did a fair bit right for a fair bit of the game,” Longmire said.
“It made a difference, and it certainly made a difference when we did not take those opportunities that we should have. In that third quarter we were going really well, but we were sort of rushing our entries a bit too much, and they took some intercept marks and we just needed to slow down.”
