A night of Bulldogs nostalgia at the MCG – complete with a thrilling contest decided by a single goal – also delivered a captivating look at the game’s future.
Collingwood’s Nick Daicos and Bulldog Sam Darcy are polar opposites as players and 26 centimetres apart, but are both sons of club greats and were taken in the first four picks of the 2021 draft.
Steele Sidebottom of the Magpies celebrates a goal.Credit: Getty Images
Daicos amassed a match-high 39 disposals and nine clearances, while 208cm Darcy hauled in eight marks (six contested) and kicked 4.2 to steal the show in a match, and on an occasion, that meant a great deal to their clubs.
The Magpies rallied from 22 points down to spoil the Western Bulldogs’ 100th anniversary celebrations and revive memories of their close-game heroics from their 2023 flag year with a nail-biting six-point triumph.
None of Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar, Liam Jones, Cody Weightman or Jamarra Ugle-Hagan played for Luke Beveridge’s Dogs, but they had a chance until the dying seconds with thanks to Darcy and Tom Liberatore, who rivalled Daicos for best-on-ground honours.
Collingwood took almost 20 minutes to score, but they were only a goal down at quarter-time – and there was little between the teams from that stage on.
Steele Sidebottom’s accurate snap out of congestion inside the last three-and-a-half minutes proved enough for Collingwood to hang on for their second win in a row since their heavy defeat to the Giants in round zero.
It was a fitting moment, given Sidebottom and fellow super-veteran Scott Pendlebury – who was also influential – made their VFL/AFL record-setting 308th appearance together.
They are part of the reason the Pies have the AFL’s oldest list, which they leaned into by trading their first-round picks last year and this year for Lachie Schultz and Dan Houston.
However, Collingwood coach Craig McRae insisted there was no extra urgency to make the most of this season despite their list demographics.
“No, we are trying to win for now, and win for the future … we’re determined to get the best out of our squad, whatever it looks like,” McRae said.
“We’re not consumed too far in the future, or too far in the past, to be honest … and we’re controlling what we can. It’s a long year.
“There’s a strong narrative around our age, but we don’t get caught up in that.”
Geelong won the 2022 premiership with a similar dad’s army squad, which the Magpies hope to replicate. But all anyone wanted to talk about post-match was Darcy, 21, and Daicos, 22.
Nick Daicos of the Magpies takes possession of the ball during the round two match between the Bulldogs and the Magpies.Credit: Getty Images
There was a level of outrage when the Giants bid on Darcy, an oversized Bulldogs father-son prospect whose dad Luke played 226 games at the Kennel, in the 2021 draft instead of Daicos.
Daicos, son of Collingwood champion Peter and brother of Josh, was considered the draft’s best player, although Jason Horne-Francis, whom North Melbourne picked at No.1, had his fans. Daicos made it to pick four.
The Giants’ logic was they needed a key-position player more than a Daicos-type, and they opted not to go for a double bid, selecting the silky Finn Callaghan after the Bulldogs matched their Darcy bid.
Sam Darcy of the Bulldogs.Credit: Getty Images
Daicos has produced one of the most outstanding starts to an AFL career in history, whereas Darcy was a slower burn after arriving at Whitten Oval with a foot stress fracture. He also missed an extended period in his second season when doctors discovered a hole in his lung.
By the end of 2023, Daicos was a premiership star and finished third in the Brownlow Medal, while Darcy had played only seven career games.
Daicos is already among the AFL’s best handful of footballers, but there is no one truly like Darcy in the competition.
He kicked 38 goals in a breakout season last year, and it was the manner of his performance on Friday night rather than the raw numbers that was so impressive.
Darcy has extraordinarily sticky hands overhead, can outreach every defender in the competition, kicks equally well on his right or left foot, moves well for a player of his size, and can play anywhere on the ground. He hit the post twice in the third term, so he could easily have finished with six goals.
McRae described Darcy as a “great player” who was “fast becoming a star”, while Beveridge called him a “significant threat” but did not believe his team capitalised on him how it could, or should, have.
“There’s no doubt that you see his highest-point [marking] stuff, and you think, ‘How are they going to stop that?’” Beveridge said.
“As he matures, can he cover more ground? Can we grow as a team to provide more and more opportunity for him? All those factors are going to be the things that influence where he can get to in his career, and where he can get to with his status in the competition.
“Everyone sees him as an enormous talent – enormous, quite literally – and a huge threat for their planning … so we should all benefit from that, and we probably didn’t tonight. Sam was a definite influence, but [there was a] lack of quantities of opportunity.”
Even Daicos was taken aback with Darcy’s authoritative performance, particularly in the first half, saying he was “sort of just in awe” at what the young Bulldog can do “once he gets his arms up”.
“He’s so long, and takes it at the highest point, so I think it’s going to be scary for years to come,” Daicos told Fox Footy.
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