AFL Round 2 Collingwood v Port Adelaide: All the news, action and fallout from the MCG
Nick Daicos is the equal Brownlow Medal favourite after shaking off an early tag to produce a certain three-vote performance against Port Adelaide.
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Nick Daicos’ ability to brush off a Port Adelaide tag on Saturday and produce a best-on-ground performance in Collingwood’s 71-point demotion of Port Adelaide was an important part of his evolution on the road to becoming one of the game’s best players, according to his coach Craig McRae.
It comes as last year’s Rising Star winner is now a $10 equal favourite for the Brownlow Medal with TAB after his great start to his second season.
The Magpies are also newly-installed $5.50 premiership favourites.
McRae forecast to 20-year-old Daicos that he would likely cop a hard tag after the Power had made pre-game signals that it would happen.
McRae even candidly said he would tag him if he had been in Ken Hinkley’s shoes.
But in a discussion between the coach and last year’s Rising Star winner held at the club on Friday, McRae urged him to concentrate on the scoreboard rather than his own impact.
“The reality is Nick is a great player; he is an emerging talent,” McRae said. “We have to embrace it. I said to Nick on Friday, ‘this is probably coming’.
“He got tagged in the practice match (against Hawthorn) and learnt so much from it.
“The reality was that in the first quarter he was getting tagged (by Lachie Jones) and the scoreboard was ticking over in our favour.
“I said to Nick before the game, ‘If this happens and the scoreboard is ticking over, you have to fight your own battles, but we will support you.
“He has got an incredible ability to play multiple roles, which makes him hard to tag.”
Daicos was so good that the Power made the switch from Jones after halftime, with Sam Powell-Pepper going to him for a period.
But nothing worked.
Daicos ended up with a game-high 32 disposals and kicked two goals, including an extraordinary boundary shot after combining with Dan McStay and Scott Pendlebury in a great passage of play.
McRae said of Daicos: “This is a natural progression of a player who is an emerging player. All the best players go through it, it is a part of his journey now.”
The coach couldn’t have been more pleased with the fact that the Pies had 14 individual goalkickers in their 21-goal haul.
“We are a systems based team, so that is huge,” he said. “It shows we are getting our whole array of players involved in the game.
“(Assistant coach) Justin Leppitsch did a great job in getting our forward connection (right) inside 50m. They connected well and worked really well together.”
He said the way the club’s new recruits had swiftly adapted to the game style had been a real positive and backed defender Billy Frampton to get better in the coming weeks after he had a tough early initiative but responded in the second half.
GINNIVAN SET TO RETURN THROUGH VFL
Glenn McFarlane
Collingwood forward Jack Ginnivan is set to resume in the club’s VFL side next weekend with his coach Craig McRae confident he has done the work required on and off the field following his month-long playing ban.
Ginnivan was ruled out of the Magpies’ two practice matches and the first two rounds of the season for being captured on video taking an illicit substance.
McRae said a gut-busting training session on Saturday convinced the coaching staff of his intent to try and fight to regain his spot in the senior team.
But it won’t come easily, given the Magpies’ unbeaten start to 2023.
“Jack has had an incredible training session over there (at the AIA Centre at Olympic Park),” McRae said. “(He was) put through his paces … the whole three, four or five weeks he had a plan to really fit as he couldn’t play.
“He has done the work, now he has to wait for an opportunity as he has given it to others.
“He has done what he can control in the time he has had off.”
Ginnivan was in the rooms celebrating with his teammates after the Magpies’ 71-point thrashing of Port Adelaide.
BROWNLOW BOUND? DAICOS LEADS PIES TO POWER THUMPING
Ed Bourke
Collingwood has quashed any remaining doubt it is a serious premiership contender and issued Port Adelaide a harsh reality check with a scintillating 71-point win at the MCG.
The Magpies attacked ruthlessly to kick the Power out of the game inside the first half with a chain of nine unanswered goals, while their forward-half pressure was intense and left the Power looking listless as they searched for a way up the field.
It was the exact kind of “chaos game” Port coach Ken Hinkley said during the week his players were preparing for, but the Power had no answers for the Magpies’ firepower as they stormed to a 49-point halftime lead off the back of 10 individual goalkickers.
The Daicos brothers again had the MCG crowd heaving with a flurry of classy finishes, as Scott Pendlebury put the younger Daicos on a path to a goal via a vintage no-look overhead handball.
Like the ageless Pendlebury, fellow veteran Steele Sidebottom was in everything as Collingwood comprehensively won the midfield battle, with Jason Horne-Francis heavily targeted in the contest and Ollie Wines and Connor Rozee well short of their usual impact.
The loss was a 125-point turnaround on Port Adelaide’s round 1 win over Brisbane, leaving serious question marks over the side’s ability to consistently match the best teams in the competition – Collingwood now knows for certain it is one of those teams.
PIES’ FIRST HALF FRENZY
From the opening moments it was clear fans would get the fast and attacking brand of football both the Magpies and Power had brought to their respective round 1 games.
But the Power weren’t fully equipped with the attacking weaponry they needed to match Collingwood, and after a frantic first 15 minutes where the lead changed hands five times, the Magpies’ forward depth proved too much to handle.
Any Pies forward was targeted and their accuracy was superb as they piled on seven majors in the opening term and another six in the second, while Port Adelaide struggled to supply Charlie Dixon, who was targeted repeatedly despite being double and triple-teamed.
SHOWDOWN STRIFE FOR BURTON
Port Adelaide defender Ryan Burton could face a week on the sidelines after a careless tackle on Jamie Elliott early in the third quarter.
The 26-year-old had Elliott in his clutches deep in the Magpies’ forward line but unnecessarily threw the small forward into the ground, landing him straight on his head.
Elliott was quickly back to his feet and nabbed the goal, but Burton will face a nervous wait ahead of the showdown against Adelaide on Saturday night.
BILLY’S BAPTISM OF FIRE
Billy Frampton had a shaky start to his Collingwood debut and found himself mobbed by players from his former club when he gave away a 50m penalty and cheap goal to his opponent Charlie Dixon for the first of the game.
The 201cm defender was beaten on the lead by Dixon for a second goal a few minutes later, but he eventually settled into the game and showed his composure when he won a ground ball battle isolated against Mitch Georgiades late in the second term.
MAGPIES 7.2, 13.5, 15.7, 21.9 (135)
POWER 3.3, 5.4, 8.7, 9.10 (64)
BOURKE’S BEST
Magpies: Sidebottom, N Daicos, J Daicos, Mitchell, Pendlebury, Cameron.
Power: Drew, Dixon, Bergman, Rozee, Powell-Pepper, Marshall.
GOALS
Magpies: Mihocek 3, J Daicos 2, Adams 2, Elliott 2, McCreery 2, N Daicos 2, Sidebottom, McStay, Cox, De Goey, Hoskin-Elliott, Hill, Mitchell, McInnes.
Power: Dixon 3, Marshall 2, Fantasia, Farrell, Rozee, Georgiades.
UMPIRES Gavine, Gianfagna, Meredith, Whetton.
INJURIES Magpies: Mihocek (finger). Power: None.
CROWD 60,744 at the MCG
BOURKE’S VOTES
3 N. Daicos (Coll)
2 S. Sidebottom (Coll)
1 J. Daicos (Coll)
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