Player Watch Nick Daicos - Can he be the GOAT?

[Tarkyn_24]

Reading this thread and seeing the ridiculous criticisms of Nick is refreshing.

It’s incredible how jealous you all are of this kid. Tall poppy syndrome.

 

[Arr0w]

Yep.

'Let's tag this bloke, even though he's no good and not going to have any influence on the game...'

Your contributions never cease to amaze me.

Completely missed the theme, but no surprise

 

[Headless]

Career contested marks:
Nick Daicos: 0
Harley Reid: 6 (2024 only)

Career bounces:
Max Gawn: 0
Harley Reid: 24 (2024 only)

 

[Gone Critical]

Career contested marks:
Nick Daicos: 0
Harley Reid: 6 (2024 only)

Lachie Neal Brownlow medal 2023 contested marks 2023 - 0

You really think contested marks are a meaningful way to assess centre square mids?

 

[Eat_Pant]

Career bounces:
Max Gawn: 0
Harley Reid: 24 (2024 only)

2024 hitouts:
Max Gawn: 557
Harley Reid: 0

 

[Fadge]

Career bounces:
Max Gawn: 0
Harley Reid: 24 (2024 only)

Jeepers.

Harley Reid in his first two thirds of a season is better than Max Gawn and Nick Daicos combined!

 

[Headless]

2024 hitouts:
Max Gawn: 557
Harley Reid: 0

Absolutely agree with your point that cherry-picking irrelevant stats isn't helpful.

 

[Eat_Pant]

Absolutely agree with your point that cherry-picking irrelevant stats isn't helpful.

It depends on the reason for using that stat. It was demonstrating how soft he is. He also runs the ball out of bounds deliberately to avoid contact (giving away a free in the process). The GOAT is not a player as soft as Nick.

 

[Gone Critical]

No, it was speaking to his softness. When you then see him run the ball over the boundary to avoid contact (as he did against Essendon, giving away a free), it can be concluded that he is super soft. Whoever the GOAT is, it’s not going to be someone who is as soft as Nick Daicos.

Contested marks has nothing to do with assessing softness. His running over the boundary was a clear mistake but you cant believe it was to avoid contact. Evading chasing players is something he thrives on, being tackled by a chasing player isnt a scary prospect on a footy field. He made a miscalculation on that occasion.

 

[Arr0w]

Contested marks has nothing to do with assessing softness. His running over the boundary was a clear mistake but you cant believe it was to avoid contact. Evading chasing players is something he thrives on, being tackled by a chasing player isnt a scary prospect on a footy field. He made a miscalculation on that occasion.

So, why would he run over the boundary, in the last quarter while the Pies were behind?

 

[Elixuh]

The GOAT is currently on afl 360

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

You cant compare him to players in the past, they didnt used to get babied into AFL by sitting at half back like Daicos and Sheezel have done. Its easy to look good when you dont have an opponent and just roam around picking up cheap touches.

My actual answer:
Its too early to tell. Its undeniable he thrives in a team that has the contested hard ball players giving him the ball all the time, but they cant play forever. Adams is gone, Mitchell is 30 and seems past it, Pendles is 64, etc. If Macrae/whoever cant step up bigly to replace them then his performances wont get any better thats for sure.
There is also the potential that as he matures and becomes more of a leader around the club, he stops being so hungry for the ball, and starts doing team things, especially if the Pies drop off somewhat

The contested ball players that you believe are making Daicos appear to have more game presence than is warranted by his talent have in fact not played this year - Mitchell and Adams for instance. Nick has starred without them feeding him the ball. Seems to me he doesn't need those players to make him appear elite. Nor is he the selfish player you claim him to be. You got it all wrong.

 

[South of the Yarra]

Don’t you love the anti Collingwood sentiment.
When Nathan Buckley played. Oh he is the only good midfielder in the team. He gets all the ball, no one takes votes off him. That’s the only reason he is good. Being in a bad team makes him stand out.

When Nick Daicos plays. He is only good because he plays in a good team. Sheezel plays in a bad team so his performance should be rated higher.

Goodness sake make up your minds.

 

[Fadge]

The GOAT is currently on afl 360

Hawkins has had a great career and all, but GOAT is a bit overstated...

 

[Worm4]

So, why would he run over the boundary, in the last quarter while the Pies were behind?

Coz he was running away from the 2 essendon defenders and instead of getting tackled , he would rather run the ball out of bounds deliberately and give essendon the free kick.

 

[Worm4]

Don’t you love the anti Collingwood sentiment.
When Nathan Buckley played. Oh he is the only good midfielder in the team. He gets all the ball, no one takes votes off him. That’s the only reason he is good. Being in a bad team makes him stand out.

When Nick Daicos plays. He is only good because he plays in a good team. Sheezel plays in a bad team so his performance should be rated higher.

Goodness sake make up your minds.

You think Collingwood are good this year ?

 

[Fadge]

Coz he was running away from the 2 essendon defenders and instead of getting tackled , he would rather run the ball out of bounds deliberately and give essendon the free kick.

You're clearly having a crack here, but it's actually not as far away from the truth than your posts about him usually are.

He ran in a couple of different directions as he was getting corralled towards the boundary line by multiple Essendon players, and he clearly had no teammates to get the ball to, so he had 3 options:
1. Kick or handball it to noone in particular and likely turn over the ball;
2. Get tackled and either the ball comes free and an Essendon player wins control of it, or the ball gets pinned and he is done for holding the ball;
3. Run the ball over the line and play chook lotto with the deliberate OOB rule.

 

[Elixuh]

Based on some of the shadow boxing going on the last few pages I think we have the pies supporters right where we want them ladies and gents

 

[South of the Yarra]

You think Collingwood are good this year ?

Good enough to beat the ‘great’ Carlton.

 

[TheGreatGrundy]

You're clearly having a crack here, but it's actually not as far away from the truth than your posts about him usually are.

He ran in a couple of different directions as he was getting corralled towards the boundary line by multiple Essendon players, and he clearly had no teammates to get the ball to, so he had 3 options:
1. Kick or handball it to noone in particular and likely turn over the ball;
2. Get tackled and either the ball comes free and an Essendon player wins control of it, or the ball gets pinned and he is done for holding the ball;
3. Run the ball over the line and play chook lotto with the deliberate OOB rule.

It's unbelievable that so much mileage can be claimed from a single innocuous incident in a game. Nick Daicos didn't have a lot of options in the few seconds available to him to do anything with the ball other than carry it over the line with him.

 

[Worm4]

Good enough to beat the ‘great’ Carlton.

9th

 

[Worm4]

You're clearly having a crack here, but it's actually not as far away from the truth than your posts about him usually are.

He ran in a couple of different directions as he was getting corralled towards the boundary line by multiple Essendon players, and he clearly had no teammates to get the ball to, so he had 3 options:
1. Kick or handball it to noone in particular and likely turn over the ball;
2. Get tackled and either the ball comes free and an Essendon player wins control of it, or the ball gets pinned and he is done for holding the ball;
3. Run the ball over the line and play chook lotto with the deliberate OOB rule.

When another player takes option 3, feel free to message me.

 

[Arr0w]

You're clearly having a crack here, but it's actually not as far away from the truth than your posts about him usually are.

He ran in a couple of different directions as he was getting corralled towards the boundary line by multiple Essendon players, and he clearly had no teammates to get the ball to, so he had 3 options:
1. Kick or handball it to noone in particular and likely turn over the ball;
2. Get tackled and either the ball comes free and an Essendon player wins control of it, or the ball gets pinned and he is done for holding the ball;
3. Run the ball over the line and play chook lotto with the deliberate OOB rule.

It was 2 Essendon players, he had 2 teammates 10-15 metres to his right, or he could have spun to his left, right foot and launched it 10-15 metres in front of goal

You must think no one watched the game

 

[Gone Critical]

So, why would he run over the boundary, in the last quarter while the Pies were behind?

I would say he assessed things wrongly. He thought he couldnt evade, didnt want to get pinged for holding the ball and thought the bounday was close enough to be his friend. Hoped reset and go again. It was a bad miscalculation.

But courage? Of all the courageous acts there are in footy I dont see being tackled by a chasing player as one of them. Its not a situation of risk and anyway a player like Daicos would be thinking of evasion and getting free from that option as the best outcome. They are not going to worry about the physical consequences of being tackled. He is in a similar situation many times every match of being pursued by someone who wants to tackle him. He is one of the best at evasion.

 

[Fadge]

When another player takes option 3, feel free to message me.

No, most other players would probably take the risk and handball/kick indiscriminately, and likely result in a turnover and score to the opposition.

Very few have the vision and decision making skills that Daicos has.