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The shift in the balance of playing time for Daicos to spend more time forward than he has done might be replicated in a change in balance by others. Firstly, Elliott will be the obvious one who will alternate with Daicos to spend more time in the midfield than he has done.
Secondly, Nick’s brother Josh will spend slightly more time rotating through the midfield from half- back than he did last year.
Daicos with Bailey Smith and Toby Greene ahead of this month’s State of Origin.Credit: AFL Photos
Josh played on the ball in the most recent intra-club match and there is an argument that he spend the majority of his time, if not move permanently, up the field to help regenerate the midfield and simultaneously give more opportunity to Dan Houston to be the freewheeling distributor off half-back.
“I think [Josh] will do a little bit of mid, but I think he will predominantly be half-back coming off his career-best season in his first year down at half-back,” Nick said.
“He gives us so much drive and helps our ball movement, he did win All-Australian on a wing, but I would say he will predominantly be featuring at half-back.”
The arrival of key forward recruit Jack Buller as a replacement for the aerial competitor Brody Mihocek (who moved to Melbourne), and the development of talls Charlie West, Noah Howes and young ruck Oscar Steene will likely see Elliott spend less time this season as the target forward and more as an opportunist small, thus the preference for him to also spend more time on the ball.
Nick Daicos has had his right calf heavily strapped through the past few weeks and during the State-of-Origin game, but he said that was more of a preventative measure, and he had played and trained through all sessions and would be fit for opening round.
“The body is feeling good, that was just for a couple of weeks [of strapping], I played the Origin and felt good, pulled up awesome, so [I’m] feeling good going into round zero,” he said.
“As a team, I think we are in a great position to attack the season, and some of the young players that are coming though are really driving the energy among the group and our older players are hitting PBs in the gym and out on the running track.
“If that is anything to go by, physically they are ready to go for the season. Now it is just execute the game plan.”
Pies, Bombers fans made to wait for Anzac Day tickets after PayPal glitch
Footy fans will have to wait to buy tickets to this year’s Anzac Day blockbuster between Essendon and Collingwood at the MCG due to a since-resolved technical difficulty related to PayPal.
The Asia Pacific-wide payment gateway issue impacted various platforms, including the AFL’s official ticket provider Ticketek, meaning the club member on-sale for the annual match was postponed by 24 hours until tomorrow (Friday) at 10am AEDT.
Zach Reid and Dan Houston clash in front of more than 90,000 at the MCG on Anzac Day.Credit: AFL Photos
Every platform that used PayPal was impacted, but there is not expected to be further delays now that the problem has been addressed.
Ticketek chose to push the on-sale time back to not impact ticket-buyers who typically use PayPal.
The attendance at last year’s Anzac Day clash was 92,055, after 93,644 turned up in 2024 and a record-setting 95,179 showed up in 2023. The average crowd for the match is almost 85,000 fans across the past three decades.
The AFL and Ticketek are yet to confirm when tickets will be on sale for non-members.
Tickets to the 2026 Anzac Day match are going on sale separately to the two clubs’ other matches from rounds one to 15 in an attempt to provide an improved buying experience for members and fans.
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