Collingwood need Nick Daicos more than ever. Not the shackled version that missed more than half his kicks on Saturday night, but the superhero in the cape who wins games off his own boot.
The Magpies’ Friday-night blockbuster against the ladder-leading Swans was already shaping as mission impossible. But it became that bit harder after a nine-goal thumping by Geelong, which was compounded by a concussion to captain Darcy Moore and confirmation Scott Pendlebury will break the games record the following week.
Veteran Steele Sidebottom is also in doubt – his availability off a six-day break dependent on a GPS data assessment by the club’s high-performance team.
The black-and-white army formed the majority of the 83,166 in the stands for Pendlebury’s record-equalling 432nd game, but the crowd had noticeably thinned well before the final siren.
When Daicos gained possession late in the final term, there were not enough Pies fans left to retaliate to the resounding jeers he received from hooped faithful. They had seen enough.
Though Daicos was among Collingwood’s better players, he was a long way off his best. His tally of 29 disposals was flattered by six kick-ins. Ten of his 17 kicks were deemed ineffective or clangers. He operated at 55 per cent disposal efficiency.
Granted, he had Oisin Mullin glued to him like a barnacle on a ship hull, but the Collingwood of 2026 does not have the support cast to cover their lead act against the elite. That Mullin’s impact through 21 disposals was comparable to Daicos’ was a huge win for Geelong coach Chris Scott, who nullified a general with a foot soldier.
Mullin was the unlikely spark of the Cats’ match-winning burst in the third quarter, winning the first centre clearance of the second half to set up a goal for Ollie Dempsey 12 seconds after the ball-up. Daicos did not bother chasing his tagger.
Magpies coach Craig McRae appeared sensitive to any criticism of Daicos, launching a staunch in his defence of his superstar, whom his opposing number rates as the best player in the competition.
“Kicking efficiency is not a number that we care too often about,” McRae said.
“I’m just not going to sit here and judge Nick Daicos’ decision-making or his skill efficiency. I think we all marvel at what he does, and we’re not perfect. We don’t aim to be. He’s an elite player of the competition, getting tagged and trying his guts out for our team.”
If the expectations on Daicos are unfair, they reflect his importance to the ageing Magpies, who have done little in nine rounds to counter pre-season predictions they are on the slide.
Daicos and Pendlebury are the key cogs in a Magpies machine that was routinely picked apart by Geelong. Their unhealthy reliance on the pair was laid bare in their pounding by the Brisbane Lions last month.
The significance of Pendlebury breaking Brent Harvey’s games record demands him doing so at home on the MCG but the Pies, likely to be 10th by the end of the round, are hardly in a position where they can take such liberties.
“Scott won’t play next week,” McRae said. “We unashamedly plan to play him the week after, all going to plan with his body and things. This is a plan that we stick to, high performance, but also rewarding and celebrating one of the greats of our game.”
Although he will not be the difference between victory or defeat at the SCG, the Pies are a considerably better chance of causing a boilover with him suited up rather than watching on.
Despite squaring stoppages, Collingwood were outscored by four goals from the centre clearance, an area McRae conceded remains a major concern for his team. Fixing this part of the game will be more difficult without Pendlebury’s skill and nous.
So too is the task of repairing the Pies’ uncharacteristically disorganised defensive structure. Too often, Magpies defenders were outnumbered near goal, after breakdowns further up the field created by the canny Cats.
“Their wingers and their forwards and their mids, they all do little deals and they spit forward, and then they replace each other,” veteran Pies defender Jeremy Howe told this masthead.
“It’s probably the way they’re coached, it can be really effective at times. So it can put us as a defensive unit in a bit of a scramble.”
Moore’s concussion after a head knock contesting a ground ball against Mullin on the stroke of half-time was keenly felt, by both captain and team.
It forced a reshuffle that resulted in running machine Isaac Quaynor, who had at least halved his duel with Ollie Dempsey on the wing, being moved into defence. Dempsey, with his endurance, was damaging after half-time. His end-to-end running set up one of the Cats’ game-changing four goals in the third quarter.
“He’s another example of a player who’s just an elite runner,” Cats coach Chris Scott said. “We still thought he was having a real impact on the game early, but had some confidence that the longer the game went on, the harder that he would be to quell.
“We thought he was really influential.”
As well has Ollie Henry will have slept after four goals against his former club and the domination of Bailey Smith and Max Holmes in the midfield, it was Patrick Dangerfield’s improved performance that may have the most bearing on the Cats’ season. He finished with 15 disposals and two goals.
“It’s not commonplace for us to build guys’ match fitness in the AFL team, but he’s one where we think we can get good value out of him while, while we are doing that,” Scott said.
The Cats have the luxury of allowing their champion to work through his gears. Collingwood don’t with Daicos.
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