AFL MRO News: Nick Daicos cleared by MRO over tackle on Brent Daniels

The Match Review Officer has released his report on Friday night’s preliminary final, clearing the path for Nick Daicos to play in next week’s decider.

Nick Daicos faces a nervous wait after this tackle. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos has been cleared to play in the grand final after he was found to have no case to answer for a tackle on GWS Giants forward Brent Daniels.

The final-quarter tackle saw Daniels hit his head on the turf and he was taken for a concussion assessment, which forced him to miss the final six minutes of Friday night’s pulsating preliminary final.

He was later cleared of concussion and Daicos was not cited at all by the AFL’s match review.

While Daicos was the one that drove Daniels into the turf, veteran Magpie Scott Pendlebury kept a hold of Daniels’ right arm, clearing Daicos of responsibility for the end result.

Collingwood was confident from the outset Daicos wouldn’t have a case to answer, with Magpies footy boss Graham Wright adamant on Saturday morning there was “not really” much concern about the incident.

GWS coach Adam Kingsley was visibly frustrated in his post-match press conference about Daniels being forced out of the final stages of the preliminary final, but the decision to take him for a test was made by the GWS doctors.

Nick Daicos faces a nervous wait after this tackle. Picture: Phil Hillyard

The doctors were notified by the AFL’s ARC to view footage of the tackle, but Giants footy boss Jason McCartney said the club doctors were already onto the incident and it was their call to effectively withdraw Daniels from the final moments of the game.

“Both our doctors, who do a wonderful job, and had careful consideration of a number of different angles of the incident and it was made a decision that Brent would have to come off,” he told 3AW on Saturday.

“They stood up under enormous pressure and made a call that that had to be done.”

McCartney said he spoke through the incident with AFL head of football Laura Kane post-match.

With Daicos clear to play, the road back into the team for midfielder Taylor Adams narrowed as he fights to prove his fitness after a minor hamstring injury.

The combative onballer tweaked his hamstring before the preliminary final and will be closely monitored before Saturday’s grand final.

Magpies legend: This would top my 1990 flag

Collingwood legend Peter Daicos says the prospect of his sons Josh and Nick combining for a premiership next Saturday would be an even better feeling for him than when he was a key member of the Magpies’ drought-breaking 1990 flag side.

Speaking after the thrilling one-point preliminary victory over GWS Giants on Friday night, Daicos was on a high in the rooms as he and other family members mingled with the team.

The Magpies are now only one win away from securing the club’s first flag in 13 years – and their 16th VFL-AFL premiership, which would draw them level with Carlton and Essendon.

Asked if seeing his sons win this year’s flag would be a better feeling than he experienced at the MCG 33 years ago, Daicos was quick to say: “Absolutely it would be.”

“It would mean everything (to me). It really would be special.”

The Daicos siblings, alongside their famous dad, were a part of the Magpies’ 2010 flag unfurling on a special night at the MCG back in 2011. Now they are ready to make their own history.

Collingwood legend Peter Daicos with sons Josh (left) and Nick. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

This looms as a massive week for the Daicos family, starting with Monday’s Brownlow Medal count – with Nick a $2.80 favourite with TAB, despite missing the last three home and away games – and with the siblings to play a leading role on Saturday in the Magpies’ quest for the ultimate success.

“I would already classify this as the best week, aside from the birth of our kids (Madison, Josh and Nick),” Peter Daicos said.

“In football terms, it is the best football week of my life, seeing the kids being able to get to this stage and do so well. We are really proud of them.”

Peter and his wife Colleen were among the first to congratulate their All-Australian sons on Friday night after qualifying for their first grand finals in black and white.

And Peter has warned the Magpies’ grand final opponent that Nick will be in even better shape match conditioning-wise next weekend, after having 28 disposals and 520 metres gained in his first game back in almost 50 days following a hairline fracture to his knee.

“He’s worked so hard to get back,” he said.

Daicos celebrated his 62nd birthday last Wednesday, but reckons having the Magpies into a grand final again is the belated present he has been craving.

He is confident Craig McRae’s Magpies are primed for a flag assault next weekend, saying they are suited by the traditional Saturday afternoon grand final time slot.

“This might sound silly, but it is a (2.30pm) game,” he said. “And we’re good (at 2.30pm).”

“If it is a nice day and the ball is sitting up, and we can play a running game, it will really suit us.”

Peter Daicos on a lap of honor after Collingwood’s drought-breaking 1990 premiership.

Of the Magpies’ five losses this season, only one of them has come during the day – a 3.20pm start against Melbourne on King’s Birthday – with three of the losses coming at night and one in a twilight fixture.

Daicos Sr played in three VFL-AFL grand finals in his decorated 250-game career with Collingwood, losing in 1980 and 1981 before helping his 1990 team to win the club’s flag in 32 years.

His first VFL grand final in 1980 came in his second senior season, which is the same for his son Nick, while Josh is in his seventh year.

“I got to Collingwood as a 15-year-old and played in five grand finals, including under 19s, reserves, night grand finals and two day grand finals by 1981, when I was only 20 years of age,” Peter recalled.

“I had to wait another nine years until I got another chance (in 1990). We were playing finals every year, but I was 29 when we finally broke through.”

Originally published as AFL MRO News: Nick Daicos cleared by MRO over tackle on Brent Daniels