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Collingwood recruiter Derek Hine doesn’t mind admitting he was a little underwhelmed when he first clapped eyes on Nick Daicos.
Back then Daicos was playing school footy far from the hype of the AFL’s Under-18 competition as he honed his craft with his father Peter each day after school at the local park.

It was the same time as “man child” Jason Horne-Francis was beating up on kids in the SANFL in a manner that already had recruiters underlining his name with a thick black texta.

Hine was used to the buzz about Collingwood father-sons — and as usual the younger brother of Pies wingman Josh was spruiked as the best of the lot.

“As with a lot of guys in the father-son program you are a bit stand-offish. We have a father-son program and staff that run it so we get consistent feedback but you try not to get too involved,” Hine recalled this week.

“You keep hearing Nick is doing this and doing that, but he was nowhere near draft-eligible. I went to watch him play for Carey when he was 16 and he played forward and did a couple of things and looked OK. I didn’t see what the fuss was about.

“And then I watched him just on the cusp of Covid (in early 2020) at a training camp down at Deakin in Geelong. It was just drills and he just did a few things and I thought, “Oh geez, he might be a bit better than I thought.”

On Saturday afternoon at the MCG Horne-Francis and Daicos will play together for the first time as the emerging stars of the 2021 draft crop.

One is a wild colt — brash, immature, inconsistent and yet spectacularly explosive.

The other is the modern-day professional — a relentless accumulator who kills by a thousand cuts who barely put a foot wrong in a Rising Star winning 2022.

Most recruiters could hardly split them as the best player in the 2021 national draft, before North Melbourne chose Horne-Francis as the No. 1 overall pick and the Pies were thrilled to see Daicos drop to pick 4 before they gleefully matched a draft bid.

Both were desperate to be the No. 1 overall pick.

And while Horne-Francis’ debut season ended in a trade request to Port Adelaide after a torrent of controversy, Daicos was anointed as footy’s next superstar.

On Saturday they will share the same MCG turf and yet as AFL talent boss Kevin Sheehan recalls, their paths have been wildly divergent since the single time they actually played as teammates for Australia.


“It was the season we didn’t have in many ways because of Covid,” says Sheehan.

“In 2020 the Australian Under-18 side played against Geelong’s VFL side. It was a whitewash _ 22 goals to two. But Daicos still found the ball and was Australia’s best player in that game. And Horne-Francis did some things but maybe touched it 11 or 12 times. That group would normally spend 60 days together but we only had them for two or three days.”

By the back end of the Covid-ravaged 2020 season Collingwood had seen enough to trade out its 2022 first-rounder for picks 24 and 30, aware it would be swallowed up in a bid for Daicos in the first three picks of that draft.

Horne-Francis would play eight senior SANFL games for South Adelaide in that 2020 season and was a player to watch.

By March 2021 Daicos was footy’s hottest prospect after a barnstorming Collingwood VFL clash against the Footscray VFL side, and despite just five NAB League games in that season he set the competition alight.

He averaged 35.8 possessions, 159 ranking points and 11 contested possessions doing as he pleased across half back and in the midfield.

Meanwhile, back over the border as South Australia remained a Covid-free sanctuary in 2021 Horne-Francis was beginning to rip the SANFL to shreds.

He would play 20 senior SANFL games culminating in a stunning 160-ranking point preliminary final that included 24 touches, three goals and two posters.

North Melbourne, monitoring him for so long, was officially in love.

In that last year of SANFL football, they saw he had a full bag of tricks.

Deep forward, half forward, centre, wing, and even half back — he thrived everywhere

While Roos fans would have been shattered to lose Horne-Francis, his round 1 performance against Brisbane actually justified why they were so keen to take the brilliant teen.

“That is what we viewed for three years. He is a star. When he works out he has to work hard and train hard like Nick Daicos, it will be scary,” a Roos insider said this week.

South Adelaide coach Jarrod Wright said the club never focused on whether Horne-Francis would go at one and only attempted to further his football development.

“We played him mainly forward and mid and threw him to half back to see the game differently. But he’s a contested ballplayer and he has speed from the contest, he uses the ball well and he’s a metres-gained player,” Wright said.

“I guess what happened in the last 12 months is not for me to comment on, but we love Jason and I messaged him in the wake of the game just to tell him how proud of him I am and the way he performed. He needs to back it up consistently but it will happen in time.

“Nick is an absolutely terrific player and a star but they are two types of players. The comparison is negligible now but they are two terrific young men and Jason is really happy with his environment.”


As the 2021 national draft approached Horne-Francis was North Melbourne-bound and the Pies intent on matching any bid for Daicos.

Both players declared their intent to be the No. 1 overall pick.

North Melbourne knew from a talent perspective the pair were impossible to split but knew Horne-Francis was “hellbent” on having his name called out first.

So why bid on Daicos?

The Herald Sun revealed Daicos would drop to the No. 4 pick on the eve of the draft — and the Pies were handed that draft gift.

In a draft where conspiracy theories abound, GWS ignored Daicos to instead bid on Dogs father-son Sam Darcy given he perfectly fit their needs.

Horne-Francis was off the board by that stage but if forced to choose they would have taken their eventual selection Finn Callaghan anyway.

He was the taller, silkier mid they needed and they too were aware Horne-Francis might eventually head home.

So it fell to Suns to bid on Daicos at pick 4, with Gold Coast having long monitored him in and knowing he would have perfectly fit their need for running half backs if not tied to Collingwood.

The saving in draft points allowed the Pies to retain three late picks in Arlo Draper (pick 45), Cooper Murley (pick 49) and Harvey Harrison (pick 52) that would otherwise have been swallowed up.

Hine says there was no deal, just a happy combination of events that saw Daicos drop down the order.

“Our focus very early on in the year had been to accumulate enough points to bring Nick in. We were pretty happy with the way it turned out. GWS bid on Darcy from memory and we certainly didn’t speak to GWS about what they were going to do. We had covered all the scenarios about whether he went one, two, three or four. It was pretty clear by then Nick was going to be something pretty special.”

Port Adelaide star Ollie Wines agrees the senior players have wanted to throw their arms around Horne-Francis this summer.

“There’s not many 19-year-olds that have been in the headlines as much as he has, and not for doing anything wrong except return to his state, and being comfortable with where he’s playing footy. He has been through a lot, he’s eager to learn,” Wines said.

“He’s not getting ahead of himself at all, and as a football group and particularly a midfield we’re pretty close and we’ve taken him in and he’s been really eager to get involved. He’s still 19 – we probably forget that at times with the growth he’s got to come.”

Will the pair cross paths on the wide open spaces of the MCG?

The Port Adelaide tyro will surely stray forward at some stage where Daicos will be situated directing traffic off half back for the Pies.

Given recruiters were unable to split these two brilliant teens across their senior draft year, who could guess which one will come out on top.
Click to expand...
 
It’s all about system, belief, instinct and speed.
That is Collingwood in a box, a team led by coach Craig McRae and his cohort of assistants, a team which is changing football in front of our eyes.

And for the better.

These Magpies are dazzling the footy world. “I’m might be biased,’’ Pies great Dane Swan said. “But they are the most entertaining side in the competition.’’

They are Maverick from the original Top Gun, and every team is Iceman, cautious and a little afraid.

Iceman: “You guys really are cowboys.’’

Maverick: “What’s your problem, Kazansky?’

Iceman: “You’re everyone’s problem because every time you go up in the air you’re unsafe. I don’t like you because you’re dangerous.’’

Maverick: “That’s right, Iceman, I am dangerous.’’

Collingwood is dangerous. It defends to the death and attacks to the hilt.

Its football is thrilling, adventurous and sometimes reckless. It has a need for speed, a want to play football with an ambition to score with every play.

Essendon great Matthew Lloyd said this week he hadn’t seen anything like it. He’s probably forgetting Geelong in 2008, and maybe Richmond in 2018, teams which somehow managed to blow a premiership. But you get the drift.

Gerard Healy, after round 1, said the Pies were equal flag favourites with Melbourne.

David King went even further. He said the Pies WILL win the premiership, barring injury. “This is brilliant ... next-level coaching,’’ King said.

Leigh Montagna was less authoritative but certainly impressed. He said the Pies had the “best offensive artillery’’ in the competition.

Every great team has had a point of difference, a mode of play which defines an era, however short it is.

From 2000 to the present day, coaches have left their fingerprints on the game. Mick Malthouse’s high press and high bench rotations, Alastair Clarkson’s cluster and then kick-mark, Richmond’s chaos and forward 50 pressure, all the way back to when Mark Thompson rescued the game from stoppage and contest and introduced blitzkrieg football at Geelong.

Can you believe the Cats used to have 500 disposals a game?

McRae’s Pies are not so much revolutionising football, for ball movement has vastly improved with the stand rule. But they have taken it new levels.

A team that arguably was overcoached is being coached to play with instinct and adventure.


“There’s no way Nick Daicos would’ve had the year he had if he played in the system before ‘Fly’ (McRae) because he wouldn’t have been allowed to do what he does at half-back,’’ Swan said. “To take on those kicks and take the game on. There’s no way he would’ve developed like he has under the old system.

“But because Fly has brought in a new energy and they are good footballers, they are able to use their strengths. Nick Daicos’s confidence in his own ability after playing 20 games is remarkable.

“It’s amazing when you’re allowed to do that, and you’re good at it, and you enjoy it, how much more productive you’re going to be.’’

Jason Akermanis, who was part of the super talented Brisbane Lions three-peat juggernaut, says the Pies move the ball with “so much more efficiency and quickly’’ and players like to play that way “if they can’’.

“There’s no doubt, last year I enjoyed the change from Buckley’s kick-mark and this really suits their group,’’ Akermanis said.

“When they structure up and they’re happy with their match-ups, they just back themselves to kick the ball whenever they can as quickly as they can into their forwards, and I think that really upsets the defence of most teams.’’

Akermanis likes their ability to have a spread of goalkickers. “That’s the real key,’’ he said. “Not only back in the Lions’ days, but the new Collingwood. Once you’ve got midfielders kicking goals and you’ve got a forward line which has three or four different goalkickers in any quarter, it’s the perfect scenario.

“They don’t care who kicks the goal, it’s selfless, and everyone gets involved and gets a chance.”

Akermanis was an electric, instinctive player and was encouraged to be so by coach Leigh Matthews.

He said McRae, a Lions teammate under Matthews, had adopted parts of “Lethal’s” theology – take on the game.

“That was one of the five points Leigh Matthew would always have on the board. Tackle and dump, get your head lower than the opposition’s head, and those two things you can’t really do these days, but one of them was back your instincts and play on as quickly as you can, particularly in the forward half,’’ Akermanis said.

“Most of the teams I’ve seen had that Leigh Matthews plan, to get it to the top of the square and put the defence under pressure, and Craig still does that. But he’s still got this other side which is whole lot more of how Leigh wanted us to play, but it’s a modern version where you’ve got fitter players and more team defence.’’

The Magpies are the best kicking team in the league. In round 1, they had nine players who ranged from 15 per cent to an outrageous 30 per cent above the AFL’s average kick rating.

It’s rarely been seen before in one game.


“Even Hawthorn, when they had their era, their foot skills were exceptional,’’ Akermanis said.

“They would be leading with a guy right on their backsides and they’d hit you every time. That was exceptional for that era, and now you’re seeing (at Collingwood) a combination of blokes who can cover the ground and quickly and also deliver by foot.’’

Daicos is not unlike Akermanis in his ability to keep his feet.

“Nick is super balanced, he’s like his old man,” Akermanis said. “He’s got that nice arch in his back, his head is always up, and even when he kicks under pressure he’s got that ability where to be not off balance, no matter how fast he’s running or how much pressure is coming on him. That’s such an art and talent. You can’t train that, you’re born with it or you’re not.’’

Jordan Lewis was part of the Hawks’ dynasty, which was based around elite kicking and defensive transition. He said the Pies’ kicking ability was second to none.

“They use numbers in that 30m radius better than any team in the competition,’’ Lewis said. “A lot of the sides will ignore the spare around the stoppage or not give that extra handball and just get it on to the boot to take ground, but Collingwood uses those players in that 30m radius.

“Richmond were like that.’’

Still, they play a different brand to his Hawks.

“We were more kick-mark,’’ Lewis said. “We weren’t a real contested side. We’d always try to have a numerical advantage (at contests).

“The reason why we weren’t great at contests is because the opposition would always send a half-forward up because we had dangerous mids, which then gave us the numerical advantage which then allowed us to be a really offensive side.

“A lot of our offensive chains were from a lot deeper than say, a forward-half side like Richmond or like Collingwood.’’

Lewis said in the pre-season there was a possibility Collingwood could miss the final eight, his reasoning being they were unknown after winning so many close games in 2022. After what he saw in round 1, he conceded he got that wrong.

“When I watch them, it seems to me they are all in sync offensively,’’ he said. “Once that manic pressure turns into a turnover, and then they go on their offensive transition, it feels like 1) they’re in sync and 2) they’ve got multiple options.

“Sometimes when sides turn the ball over, you can nearly say where they’re going and who they’re going to, whereas Collingwood, they tend to have multiple options they can use.’’

Of course, there are systems and strategies at work.

Like, a defensive mid standing off the stoppage. And even that’s a weapon. He’s there to cover if Collingwood loses the contest, but if they win it, he’s there to also be part of the transition through the corridor.

In hand with strategy is belief.

“They’ve got a belief which is hard to get,’’ Lewis said.

Swan: “You see enormous belief in them.

“It’s weird because they look fitter than everyone else. Every player in the league is a professional athlete, and it’s hard to imagine there’s a secret potion in Collingwood’s drink or the extra running in the pre-season has made them so much fitter … but they have something else. They have a remarkable belief in their ability and their game plan.

“The way they take the game on, it’s just like Richmond in their glory days. One could say they are Richmond dressed up in Collingwood colours of three or four years ago. But they’re more skilful (than Richmond).”

Swan, who was a dinky kick, is mesmerised by the daredevil foot skills of Collingwood’s players.

“Sometimes when they kick your heart’s in your mouth, but it just works,’’ Swans said.

“And if it doesn’t work, and if you pause the TV screen, it feels like Collingwood outnumbers the contest. When the ball comes to the ground it is at least even or they have the outnumber and it seems to happen at the big contests.

“That might be Fly. He might just be an unbelievable teacher. It seems like Collingwood players know what their teammates are going to do every second of the game.

“Obviously, they make mistakes, but in big moments they seem calm, they don’t let the pressure get to them. Fly still lets the players do what they are good at.

“Funnily enough, kids get drafted because they are good at football and are not just robots.’’
Click to expand...
 
domus said:
As David King rightly pointed out, Geelong played for one week longer than us last year so the endless cry of
"We are underdone!" by the Cats fans and many in the media is a weak deflection.
Click to expand...

If you look a bit deeper, it’s comparing our players who (in some cases) came back to training early, versus Geelong who told many of their aging players to not come back until after Christmas.
 

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76woodenspooners said:
If you look a bit deeper, it’s comparing our players who (in some cases) came back to training early, versus Geelong who told many of their aging players to not come back until after Christmas.
Click to expand...

Look even deeper. Our list average age is 0.4 years less than Geelong. We did the same.


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

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Apparently there is an article in this week's record in which Fly states the Collingwood fans are louder and more passionate than the Richmond fans.

My love for this man just continues to deepen. He should know. He was one of them for a while. That will get under their skin!
 
It's harder to imagine louder roars than when Moore ran down Ollie in round 1 or this week when Nicky Daicos kicked that goal in the second quarter from the overhead Pendles handball.
 
Kirby said:
It's harder to imagine louder roars than when Moore ran down Ollie in round 1 or this week when Nicky Daicos kicked that goal in the second quarter from the overhead Pendles handball.
Click to expand...
I remember Ben Johnsons goal in the first quarter of the 2010 prelim which was our 7th was off the charts
 
Pistol Night said:
Billy’s goal against Carlton was defeaning
Click to expand...
Yep, and the after the siren Essendon one.

I was just trying to keep my hyperbole to this year lest I burst.
 
Kirby said:
It's harder to imagine louder roars than when Moore ran down Ollie in round 1 or this week when Nicky Daicos kicked that goal in the second quarter from the overhead Pendles handball.
Click to expand...
That's the only way Richmond fans can pretend they are louder and more passionate - in their imaginations!
 
Pistol Night said:
I remember Ben Johnsons goal in the first quarter of the 2010 prelim which was our 7th was off the charts
Click to expand...
I had the honour of discussing that very goal with Benny a few years ago when he was playing for Doncaster in the Eastern footy league. They came to play us at Mooroolbark and the team was warming up not far from where I was sitting on the hill.
I called out to BJ who was only a few metres away and said he was one of my all time favourites. He immediately ran over and promptly sat down next to me after saying " Cheers mate!" with a big smile.
I asked him what it felt like to be in that cauldron of noise and he laughed and said it was awesome.
He told me had watched a replay of that prelim a few days earlier.
I asked him which game had the louder noise, the 2010 preliminary or the 2002 when Rocca thumped that 75 m goal. I said the 2002 and he favoured the 2010.
I wished him all the best, we shook hands and he said cheers again and ran back to his team mates.
What a legend.
 

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