Player Watch Nick Daicos

[Pistol Night]

What do you think about an underworld medical system where we get sperm from Collingwood legends and superstars, impregnate wiling participants ( pay them ) tag them so we can monitor and have first use of the little future stars for the Black & White?

I think this is the future - anyone?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Only if Madge signs up for the program

 

[Mollythedolly]

Who's that? I noticed JHF didn't play today. Form or injury?

The same JHF who starred for Port Adelaide today?

 

[Fat Jesus]

The same JHF who starred for Port Adelaide today?

Yeah I forgot he went to Port and was looking for him in Norfs list.

Unusual for a #1 pick to leave after his first year.
It should not be allowed to happen.

 

[Apex36]

Wonder if the same people bagging Nick for getting "easy" possessions in the backline will say the same for the young North player..................

North fans last year were desperate to point out how Nick got ‘soft’ possessions, he was a seagull etc, in their desperation to justify picking JHF at 1 instead of bidding on Nick. It will be hilarious to watch them do a 180 defending Sheezel from exactly the same criticisms this year from oppo supporters.

 

[Apex36]

Who's that? I noticed JHF didn't play today. Form or injury?

Were you asleep during the trade period last year?

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

Yeah I forgot he went to Port and was looking for him in Norfs list.

Unusual for a #1 pick to leave after his first year.
It should not be allowed to happen.

Why keep somebody who wants out?

North have replaced him with a jet

 

[Copeland]

Why keep somebody who wants out?

North have replaced him with a jet

Did they get Chessell with the pick?

 

[Fat Jesus]

Why keep somebody who wants out?

North have replaced him with a jet

It defeats the purpose of the draft.
Should be a minimum of 3 years at the one club.
JHF requested North take him at #1..
He was probably advised by his Manager that it would be easier to leave North after the 1st year.
Everyone knew he wanted to remain in SA.
Dunno, Luckily for North they got a jet. On the other hand he could have turned out a dud.

Look at the way we carried on when Ollie wanted out

 

[FAIRANDBALANCED]

I hate how our club doesn't plan for the future enough. Surely we are sending Peter to broodmares to stock up for the 2040s.

 

[Timmy from Thomastown]

It defeats the purpose of the draft.
Should be a minimum of 3 years at the one club.
JHF requested North take him at #1..
He was probably advised by his Manager that it would be easier to leave North after the 1st year.
Everyone knew he wanted to remain in SA.
Dunno, Luckily for North they got a jet. On the other hand he could have turned out a dud.

Look at the way we carried on when Ollie wanted out

It’s the risk all clubs and players take

 

[TradeDraft]

 

[joff]

Behind paywall if someone can post article I'd be thankful cheers in advance

 

[Jen2310]

Behind paywall if someone can post article I'd be thankful cheers in advance

Hang on, I posted it in the media thread.

 

[Jen2310]

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.

 

[joff]

Hang on, I posted it in the media thread.

Legend thanks jen

 

[Fat Jesus]

"Both were desperate to be the #1 pick."

I don't remember Nick saying a word.

 

[#23 Hill]

"Both were desperate to be the #1 pick."

I don't remember Nick saying a word.

If Nick was desperate he wouldn't have nominated for father son.

 

[Jen2310]

"Both were desperate to be the #1 pick."

I don't remember Nick saying a word.

He definitely wanted to go as high as possible. Was upset the GWS didn't bid on him with pick 2.
But ultimately knew he was ending up at the pies, so didn't matter. But wanted to be recognised from the hard work he has put in

 

[theaussietilt]

"Both were desperate to be the #1 pick."

I don't remember Nick saying a word.

I also don't recall him playing a minute at halfback - he was a pure midfielder covering the entire ground and resting forward, averaging two goals a game.

 

[neilk]

"Both were desperate to be the #1 pick."

I don't remember Nick saying a word.

Nick Daicos wants to go No.1 in AFL draft​

Collingwood will select him no matter what but father-son prospect Nick Daicos still wants to be called out as the top pick in this year's AFL draft.

 

[JLC]

He definitely wanted to go as high as possible. Was upset the GWS didn't bid on him with pick 2.
But ultimately knew he was ending up at the pies, so didn't matter. But wanted to be recognised from the hard work he has put in

Spot on.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Fat Jesus]

Nick Daicos wants to go No.1 in AFL draft​

Collingwood will select him no matter what but father-son prospect Nick Daicos still wants to be called out as the top pick in this year's AFL draft.

Channel 7 bullshit. Nick is no idiot.
Typical draftee spiel.

"I'd love to be recognised and go as high as I can, be recognised for the hard work I've put in, but at the end of the day I'll be going to Collingwood and that's where my attention lies now.

 

[Fat Jesus]

Spot on.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

Rubbish. His attention lies at going to Collingwood.
Not at being #1

 

[Mick F]

Nick Daicos wants to go No.1 in AFL draft​

Collingwood will select him no matter what but father-son prospect Nick Daicos still wants to be called out as the top pick in this year's AFL draft.

There is every reason to believe Draper will be a fine player for the club. Harrison is a chance also - speed is a handy attribute to have in sport.

 

[Jen2310]

There is every reason to believe Draper will be a fine player for the club. Harrison is a chance also - speed is a handy attribute to have in sport.

Harrison has power and speed. Just needs to know how to use his body, which is how he is getting these injuries. Hopefully on the right track now.