AFL Draft 2021: Carlton is confident its have enough talent to cover the losses of Liam Jones and Eddie Betts
Eddie Betts’ departure was inevitable but Liam Jones’ came as a shock — can the Blues cover the void? Here is why they think they can.
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Carlton is confident it has stockpiled enough talent in its full-back and small forward positions to replace the loss of Eddie Betts and Liam Jones in Michael Voss’s first season.
The Blues jumped at the chance to recruit elite small forward Jesse Motlop at pick 27 in Thursday night’s draft after struggling since Betts’ initial departure to Adelaide to find a star goalsneak.
After being prevented from taking an extra draft selection to replace Jones, unwilling to be vaccinated, the Blues can only fill his spot by auditioning summer rookies.
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But list management boss Nick Austin is confident WAFL small forward Motlop, the son of Port Adelaide and Daniel, is only one of multiple small forward options in Voss’s front six.
Betts retired after a two-year stint back at the Blues with Motlop joining options including Jack Martin, Zac Fisher and Jack Silvagni.
Motlop was linked to Fremantle’s NGA zone but Carlton took him off the board before he was eligible past 40 for the Dockers under specific rules for metropolitan indigenous prospects.
“Jesse is a player we have our eye on for a while,” Austin said.
“He brings a lot of excitement and he played some senior footy over in WA including the grand final as a 17-year-old so we are pretty rapt to get him in and he will add to our mix and add to some list needs,” he said.
“Corey Durdin and Josh Honey got their chance last year. We feel like they all bring different things to the table and we are excited to see what they can do as a mix and some competition for spots for young guys is a good thing
“I am sure all those guys will like to work under Harry (McKay) and Charlie (Curnow) and create a bit of excitement down there.”
Carlton will wait until the dust settles on Friday’s rookie draft to assess which players it invites to train with the club over summer but it is unlikely the club will choose a like-for-like replacement for Jones.
While Jones is irreplaceable Oscar McDonald was a long-time full back in Melbourne’s best side and Caleb Marchbank is on the way back from an April ACL tear.
“We will work through tonight who gets through and who gets through the rookie draft and bring in some guys who we think can add to us,” Austin said.
“We are not looking for a like-for-like, we brought in Lewis Young, Oscar McDonald missed the season last year (with injury), and we have got guys like Lachie Plowman, Caleb Marchbank and even some developing ones in Brodie Kemp and Luke Parks who played some senior footy last year.
“We feel like there is some depth there and if it happens to be a key, it’s a key, but we will take the best available.”
Pies salivating over midfield of the future
Collingwood believes it has drafted the nucleus of its next-generation midfield for Craig McRae’s rebuild after plundering two national drafts.
The Magpies added a trio of late-draft picks on Thursday night, in part because rivals waited until pick No.4 to bid on generational midfielder Nick Daicos.
Collingwood eventually traded up a few picks to secure South Adelaide 186cm mid-forward Arlo Draper (pick 45) then added midfielder Cooper Murley (pick 49) and inside midfielder Harvey Harrison (pick 52).
Collingwood had nine players make their debut in 2021 including midfielders Finn Macrae, Jay Rantall and Caleb Poulter, with Daicos ready to slot into the side from Round 1 next year.
The youngsters should blend in with captain Scott Pendlebury, Taylor Adams, Steele Sidebottom and Jack Crisp to provide an elite midfield with room to grow.
The future of Jordan De Goey is clouded given the club’s disappointment after he put himself in a position to be in a New York bar scuffle that has seen him facing assault charges.
The Pies are aware their window might be some years into the future but recruiting boss Derek Hine said the club had secured enough talent to change the makeup of their midfield.
He said fans should believe better times were ahead after this year’s 17th-placed finish.
“You could be excited,” Hine said of expectations from fans.
“The boys we added tonight, on top of Nick, shows the depth of the group.
“From our perspective with these boys and the boys we brought in last year, that is the group going forward and the onus is on us as a footy club to have the resources, the coaching, everything around them to make the team successful and then we are all in the lap of the gods.
“We are really confident with the spread now and we have got a good hand with next year as well with the futures picks so it gives us the scope to trade forward again.”
The Pies were prepared to match a No.1 overall bid for Daicos but instead used the draft points savings to secure the trio of mids and mid-forwards.
“We were really mindful of GWS and Gold Coast’s position. They have the right to assess him as they want.
“If a bid came at one, absolutely. We were hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. That was our rationale right from day one.”
‘Real stuff’ begins for father-son guns Darcy, Daicos
Family bloodlines have formed part of a familiar draft playbook for Collingwood and Western Bulldogs in recent years as Nick Daicos and Sam Darcy took the collective number of father-sons at the two clubs to 12 – six at each club.
In moments separated by only two draft picks and less than 10 minutes on Wednesday night, the selections warmed the hearts of Magpies and Bulldogs fans young and old, and delighted two families entwined in the history of those respective clubs.
The two 18-year-olds already knew their destinations heading into the first night of the draft, but there was still some relief when AFL boss Gill McLachlan finally read out their names.
Their long draft journey is over; now the real stuff starts and they cannot wait to get to work.
Darcy, 18, was taken at pick 2 by the Bulldogs after they matched a bid from Greater Western Sydney.
The son of Bulldogs great Luke, and grandson of star defender David, Darcy couldn’t be more proud to become the third generation to wear red, white and blue.
There was also added poignancy to the moment, given his grandfather David passed away in August last year.
“I’m sure he would be very proud … I want to represent him well and keep working hard to achieve what I want to achieve,” Sam said of his grandfather.
MORE: SEE EVERY PICK IN THE DRAFT TRACKER
Then moments later, Daicos, who turns 19 in January, was selected by the Magpies at pick 4, matching a bid from Gold Coast.
Seated between his dad, Collingwood great Peter, and his older brother and new teammate Josh, Nick couldn’t have been grateful to be given the chance to carry on the family tradition.
He immediately hugged both of them – and his mum Colleen – at Richmond’s London Tavern, where the top draft prospects gathered at a function well away from the club action at Marvel Stadium.
Daicos even got to try on his new No.35 – which his dad wore in 250 games and which now goes to the first draftee each year, honouring a selfless sacrifice from Simon Prestigiacomo in 2010.
Ollie Henry, this year’s No.35, was there to hand it over.
“I’m super excited to don the 35,” Nick Daicos said. “I was fortunate Ollie came and handed me over the 35. It fits well.
“It has obviously got a lot of meaning at the club.
“I am really excited to start training and get to know my peers and the coaching staff.
“I will put my best foot forward as soon as I get to the club and try to play as early as I can.”
Daicos said it had been a childhood dream to be drafted as high as he could be, but stressed “pick 4 … is awesome for me.:
“I am super proud and I hope I have done my family and friends proud tonight.
“I just want to play good footy. The boys who have taken before me are absolute superstars and I can’t wait to see what they will do at the next level, too.”
Collingwood now has six father-sons on its 2022 roster – two Daicos brothers (Nick and Josh), two Brown brothers (Callum and Tyler), Darcy Moore and Will Kelly.
The Bulldogs also have six father-sons at the Whitten Oval next year, with Darcy joining Mitch Wallis, Lachie Hunter, Tom Liberatore, Rhylee West and Zaine Cordy
“It’s pretty unbelievable (to have that many) father-sons,” Darcy said.
Daicos, from Kew Rovers, and Darcy, from Glen Iris and Scotch College, were Oakleigh Chargers teammates this year, but will forget their careers elsewhere next year and well beyond.
Embrace the hype: The Rise of Nick Daicos
It was the question Collingwood legend Peter Daicos knew he would have to ask his youngest son Nick at some stage.
Earlier this year, against the backdrop of the Magpies freefalling on the field and with the father-son prospect rocketing up the draft charts, Peter had to ask Nick how he was coping with the almost unprecedented media attention and expectation.
“His mum (Colleen) and I don’t like that side of it,” Peter, 60, explained.
“We were always a bit concerned with the amount of publicity. There has been a hell of a lot, but hopefully people understand it is not Nick’s doing, and it is not our doing.
“I’ve asked him if he is OK with it. His answer has always been the same: ‘Dad, It’s all good’.”
On Wednesday night, Nick Daicos will officially become a Collingwood footballer, even if it seems as if his journey to the Holden Centre has seemingly been signposted for years.
He had a brief flirtation with Carlton as a kid, but his heart has long belonged to the Magpies, and he has already signed a four-year deal without playing a game.
Nick, 18, is joining the club where father Peter was one of Collingwood’s favourite sons across 250 games and 549 goals, and where brother Josh – older by five years but almost inseparable as a sibling and best mate – is carving out his own career.
Any son of a club legend is always going to face the glare of attention, which his brother would attest to.
But while Josh has turned himself into a player of substance in a steady progression, he was taken at pick 57 as a father-son selection five years ago.
The hype and supporter spotlight surrounding Nick – who is likely to be selected at pick four but could easily have been higher – is something else entirely.
That hasn’t always sat comfortably with his parents, who prefer things to be more measured.
“Whether you are the No. 50 pick or the No. 1 pick, everyone is expecting you to play and to come out and turn it on,” Peter said.
“There is this pressure now, and there will be pressure when he plays, but he is going to have his ‘L’ plates on for a while. For how long, we don’t know, and that can be dependent on how Craig (McRae) and the coaching crew use him.
“It is important he is managed a bit and we are pretty confident that is going to happen.”
Nick has shone in the spotlight, even thrived in it.
He has been honest enough to say he wanted clubs to bid on him as high as possible, even though he knew he was going to Collingwood.
He has been bold enough to suggest he wants to strive for multiple flags in black and white – his father famously won one in 1990.
He has embraced the hype, but never been in thrall to it, with his upbringing from his parents and his connection to Josh and older sister Maddie keeping him level.
Family keeps him grounded with Peter joking the boys continue living at home because “they get cheap rent at home … the best commercial decision they have made.”
BELIEF
Oakleigh Chargers and Vic Metro coach Jason Davenport – who saw another father-son of a legend pave his own path in Gary Ablett Jr – says Nick balances confidence and inner belief with a desire to always do what is best for the team.
“To have the word confidence attached to someone of that age, people can often misinterpret that in the wrong way,” Davenport said.
“There is a big difference between confidence and arrogance. Nick has a level of confidence that is required. That is going to put him in good stead to succeed at the next level for a long period of time.
“But that is not arrogance. There is nothing wrong with being good at something and being OK with it.”
Davenport said Daicos was able to compartmentalise the external stuff going on around him from his elite preparation to training and matches.
“We take for granted he is just an 18-year-old taking all of this in, being a father-son player at one of the big four clubs, from one of the greatest players,” he said.
“He just takes it in his stride and keeps performing.
“He has had as much media as anyone I can remember (before a draft) and he takes that in his stride. Then he was jumping up conservatively into the top two or three or four players (in the draft) and he took that in his stride.
“I wouldn’t have handled that at 18, and I am not sure many would.”
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
Peter Daicos never left anything to chance.
While he never wanted to push his children towards football, he was more than happy to leave some well-placed hints around.
He would leave strategically placed footballs around the family home.
His sons took the balls and quite literally ran with them.
Like Peter had done in his parents’ lounge room in their North Fitzroy house a generation earlier, with a pair of rolled-up socks, a toilet roll or an empty plastic ‘hand grenade’ cordial container, he encouraged his sons to get their hands on a footy early – and often.
“I always left them (footballs) lying around; there was a bit of a design to it,” he said. “We always used oversized balls and they didn’t get that for a long time.
“I always felt that the kids would bring themselves up to the level eventually.”
He knew if he could foster an interest in footy it might one day lead them to Collingwood.
“When each of our kids were born, it was like ‘Here is a little Magpie’,” he said. “You would say, ‘It would be great one day if they could play for Collingwood’, but their personalities or interests hadn’t been formed then.”
Daicos routinely took his children to random AFL home and away matches – many not featuring Collingwood – and squeezed them into Grand Finals (Nick often sitting on his Dad’s lap).
“He (Nick) just loved his footy,” he said. “I took him to every game and any game.”
“As a part of playing 200 games, I get two free tickets and he would constantly hound me, ‘let’s go Dad, let’s go and see the Bulldogs and Melbourne, let’s go and see St Kilda and whoever’.
“He would almost drag me out the door.”
YOUNG NICK
As the youngest of three, Nick always played out of his age bracket at home, in the parks and on the field.
“He always followed Josh around … it’s fair to say him and Josh have almost been joined at the hip … they are best mates,” Peter said.
“When he would go to the park with the older kids, he would get bowled over, but he would dust himself off and get back into it again.”
When Peter coached a junior side consisting of some of Maddie’s friends, Nick was his little shadow.
“In one game, as the story goes, I wasn’t happy with something one of the players did. I said to (an assistant) ‘We have got to do something about that’.
“Well, as soon as the siren went, Nick ran out and went up to the kid and said: ‘Dad is not happy with you, he wants you to do this’.”
Nick played out of his age bracket in junior football, yet still excelled, craving the competition and challenges.
The boys habitually wanted to go to the park for a kick with their Dad on most days, but Peter stressed the need to still do it on rainy days.
“I kept saying, if you can do it in the wet and do it, it’s a real bonus,” he said.
“Temperament is so important and both boys have got that.
“I always hear Nick say now: ‘Dad doesn’t push us’. Well, I’ve never really had to.
“Sure, there are times when if I think they have let up a bit, I will just say ‘I saw your mate running down the road’ – which wasn’t true – and they get straight out of bed and go for a run.”
HARD WORK
Davenport says one thing shouldn’t be lost in the narrative of Nick Daicos’ silky skills – he works bloody hard.
“He is one of those players who would often do things with all due respect that the other 35 players on the ground couldn’t,” he said.
“But you can’t just attach that to genetics. He practices his craft religiously and he applies himself week to week to perform. I don’t want (his work ethic) to be lost in this.
“He is a special player, but has worked his tail off from a young age.”
Davenport said Daicos’ ability to gut-run his way out of contests “is why I have so much confidence he will have a long (AFL) career.”
“He has still got to learn when it comes to patterns and what system Craig McRae wants to implement at Collingwood. But his ability to mentally push himself is what I most admire.”
No. 35
One of Collingwood’s most famous guernsey numbers and it’s about to get a one-season renaissance.
Peter Daicos wore No. 35 in his 250 matches, and it was reproduced on so many jumpers and duffel coats that the numbers 3 and 5 were often out of stock.
Since Simon Prestigiacomo retired in late 2010, the Magpies have handed out the No. 35 to the club’s first year draft selection to wear for a year.
They offered to make an exception for Josh when he was picked up in 2016, but he knocked it back, preferring to start his own journey.
Nick has already agreed to wear it for at least one year.
“I am not sentimental in that way,” Peter said. “But to see No. 35 running around, it will give me a bit of a buzz to see him in it, but it would’ve been the same if it was 59, or 1 or whatever.
“But I know his Mum is pretty pleased with it.”
YEAR ONE
Nick Daicos will walk into a different organisation than the one his brother did for the first time five years ago
The Magpies have a new coach and coaching staff, a renewed emphasis on development and a young list trying to build something special.
That is an exciting prospect for the Daicos brothers, and their family, including Peter’s parents Stan and Phyllis who came to Australia from a small village in Macedonia.
“Everyone is naturally very happy,” Peter said.
“When Josh was drafted, the scenarios were a bit different. We knew Josh had interest from
Collingwood, and there was interest from a few other clubs, With the run-in to the draft with Nick, we know where he is going.
”I am rapt he is going into a group of kids (at Collingwood) that are hopefully going to take the club forward.
“I’m only looking for afar now, but I think Oliver Henry is going to be a gun. I hear lots of good things about Liam McMahon. Then, there is Beau McCreery, Caleb Poulter and Fin Macrae coming through.
“I would be surprised if there wasn’t some good improvement.”
Whatever happens, Davenport says Collingwood fans have every reason to be excited.
“We have to remember he is an 18-year-old (he turns 19 in January) who is going to be stepping into a midfield or playing against smaller defenders who have been in the system for six or seven years.”
“But what you are going to see at the very least is glimpses into his talent and that will be exciting for not just Collingwood supporters, it will be exciting for the football public.”
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Originally published as AFL Draft 2021: Carlton is confident its have enough talent to cover the losses of Liam Jones and Eddie Betts
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