AFL round 8: Collingwood holds off Sydney in fiery clash as Pies complain about dirty Daicos shots
DEEP DIVE: Collingwood are fed up with the roughhouse tactics teams are using to unsettle young superstar Nick Daicos - with Sunday’s win over Sydney highlighting the game’s ugliest side.
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Josh Daicos has seen a lot of the cheap shots.
Playing alongside his brother, Nick, has brought the pair an enormous amount of joy over the past 18 months.
And there remains the prospect of a Brownlow Medal, if not a premiership for the duo in 2023 as Collingwood rose to the top of the ladder on Sunday with a win over Sydney Swans.
But there is a tipping point to the roughhouse tactics.
Sydney Swans went after Nick Daicos as part of fiery opening at the MCG.
And the niggle sent Brayden Maynard into overdrive when he pounded Swans’ livewire Tom Papley into the turf and only minutes later got inches away from tagger Ryan Clark’s face with a personal message.
If you are going to take on Nick Daicos, Maynard said, you are going to have to go through him, too, or words to that effect.
But Josh Daicos, who has become one of footy’s most lethal ball-users, has had a gutful of the treatment, too.
Perhaps it flew under the radar in the early matches, but the opposition has often gone after Nick Daicos, and Josh has had enough, which is why, in part, things erupted on Sunday.
“Starting to get used to it now,” Josh Daicos said.
“But it’s never nice seeing off-the-play, a lot of dirty hits going on.
“Obviously there’s going to be a lot of physicality and you have got to respect that. I completely understand what they are doing (targeting Nick).
“But at times it was 80m off the ball. There’s elbows into the ribs, it’s not on.
“But like we always do, we stick up for him and we give it back to them.”
Collingwood coach Craig McRae liked what he saw from his troops as they first flew the flag for Nick Daicos, remained patient as the Swans tried to control the ball throughout the mid-part of the game, and then accelerated in the last quarter to win the game.
“If someone comes at us, we want to go back at them, but within the rules,” McRae said.
“Last week was the same. The week before.”
The Swans did not want to get tied up in a shoot-out with the most potent scoring side in the league on Sunday.
So Sydney tried to deny Collingwood the ball.
Go slow. Suffocate.
But there is a reason the Magpies are the league’s fourth-quarter specialists as they banged home five goals to one in the final term.
The trademark late-game confidence kicked-in. It was time to be more aggressive.
They took on the tacklers, more, and kicked to the contest.
Their mantra is to be brave with the footy, helping flip the script on the first-half arm wrestle.
“We were chasing bum for a lot of the first half and even in the third quarter,” Daicos said.
“But we knew we would break them at some point. We knew there would be a time where they would have to score.
“They couldn’t keep playing possession and that happened in the last quarter.
“So we were able to bust them open.
“It was a really defensive game and in the last quarter we were able to kick away.”
On the other hand, the Swans have problems connecting forward of the ball, missed too many shots on Sunday, and need to find a way to get Isaac Heeney going after an up-and-down start to the season.
The Magpies dominated the tackle pressure battle in the forward half, laying 22-6 tackles in the forward 50m.
“Like the last two or three games, our pressure in the last quarter goes to another level,” coach McRae said.
“Teams, right now, after struggling with that.”
Livewire Jack Ginnivan had an impact coming on as the sub, and could even take Bobby Hill’s spot for the clash against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
For all the doubts over the summer, the win has put Collingwood in top spot after seven wins from eight games this season.
Josh Daicos said the Magpies had improved since the end of last season.
“It’s been a huge tick,” Daicos said.
“I couldn’t ask for much more. We obviously lost that game against Brisbane at the GABBA which is their fortress.
“But we have been playing really good footy. We had a lot of short breaks and we played a lot of great opposition.
“So I really feel like our game so I definitely feel like our game has progressed nicely since the back end of last year and we are looking forward to what we can achieve in the back end of this year.”
But there’s warning.
Be careful going after Nick Daicos.
Collingwood won’t stand for it.
“He definitely gives it back to them with a bit of lip and you see him letting them have it,” Josh Daicos said.
“He definitely doesn’t back down to any of them. He probably feels like he is just as big and strong as any of them, even though he is a smaller figure.
“It’s just the confidence he has and he won’t back down to nobody.
“He has got the support of us, we have always got his back and it’s great to play a physical brand of footy.”
SWANS SLAM PIE FANS OVER NONSENSICAL BUDDY BOOING
By Ed Bourke
Sydney coach John Longmire has expressed his disgust at Collingwood fans who booed superstar forward Lance Franklin at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.
Playing his first game at the MCG against Collingwood since he wore Hawthorn colours in 2013, Franklin was booed on every one of his six marks as he was kept goalless by disciplined Magpies duo Darcy Moore and Nathan Murphy.
Longmire said he could not understand the motivation behind the hostile reception for the Swans veteran, who he said his midfielders targeted too heavily when they went forward during the 29-point loss.
“But I don’t know why they would, why were they booing him? Why would you boo him? You’d probably celebrate a 36-year-old wouldn’t you, who’s been a champion of the game,” he said.
“Why would you … it’s been 10 years since we played Collingwood here, why would you boo one of the champions of the game? It doesn’t make sense.”
What are we booing Buddy for Collingwood fans?
— Will Schofield (@WillSchofield) May 7, 2023
He said he would have liked to see better variety in the Swans’ forward entries, offering youthful exuberance as an explanation for the sloppy attacking play which meant they were unable to capitalise on their dominance in the uncontested ball.
“We went in with a plan, I thought we were trying to execute it really well, but just some pretty basic kicks, you’ve just got to have the confidence to go back and put the ball over into Punt Road, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
“Even that third quarter, we were going really well but we were sort of rushing our entries too much. We just needed to slow down a little bit … take our time and execute the kick going forward.
A bit of that is a bit of youth, a bit excited outside 50 just wanting to kick it in, kick it in, but we’ve got to get better at that.”
Longmire said there were promising signs from the first three quarters barring the poor goalkicking.
“Our intensity was really good, and then in the second quarter we started to execute some things but we missed some easy goals,” he said.
“I thought generally for three quarters we were right in the hunt and right where we wanted to be.
“They got some easy goals in the last quarter, and whether it was structural – not getting the right player back on the line or the key defender, basic stuff that we should get done … some basic execution (went wrong) and they were very good in the last quarter.”
He said Peter Ladhams would be assessed by doctors after the game after sustaining a mystery arm injury that caused numbness and led to him spending 20 minutes off the ground during the first term.
Second-gamer Marc Sheather hyperextended his knee just before the main break and was subbed out early in the third term, putting him in doubt for next Saturday’s clash against Fremantle at the SCG.
McRae praises tagged Daicos
Collingwood coach Craig McRae says he was thrilled by Nick Daicos’ response to another hard tag and pleased by his side flying the flag when the Brownlow Medal favourite was targeted in the first quarter of their 29-point win at the MCG.
Sydney forwards flocked to Daicos after his opponent Ryan Clarke booted the Swans’ first goal for the afternoon, sparking a heated scuffle between a dozen players and several more fiery incidents during the opening term as Collingwood met the hostility with more of the same.
McRae said the execution was precisely what he wanted as coach, with the Magpies claiming a free kick from the first melee but careful not to give any away.
“Someone comes at us, we want to come back at them, but within the rules,” he said.
“Last week was the same ... there’s a flying the flag if you like using that language, but there’s not a stepping over the rules of the game.
“We don’t want to be undisciplined, but we stand up for each other.”
He said the attention Daicos again received was “his lot” as a talented second-year player, and praised his effort to break the shackles and gather 10 possessions as the Magpies kicked themselves clear in the final term.
“It’s a natural part of any good player in the competition … you go back in time, every good player’s had to go through this, and some have to do it for longer,” he said.
“He went in the midfield and did his thing – he’s a hard player to stop.
“The last two or three games our pressure in the last quarter just goes to another level, and teams right now are struggling with that.”
Daicos attended the third-most centre bounces of any Collingwood midfielder as the Pies tried to set him free from Clarke’s grip, with McRae saying he had comprehensive plans to help the 20-year-old work over a team trying to stop him.
“I said last week, I like playing chess with my Dad and he liked playing against me until I started beating him, but he taught me about the importance of thinking ahead, two moves ahead,” McRae said.
“That’s what we like to do not only with Nick, but in the game, we want to be strategic with what it looks like, if he’s not impacting or whatever is happening … we want to be two steps ahead.”
McRae said he was “really happy” with Jack Ginnivan’s contribution as the sub, booting a goal along with five disposals and three tackles.
He insisted the goalsneak was not dropped after last week, suggesting he may rotate out of the starting 22 and into the sub role along with the other small forwards.
“Particularly playing a role like him and Bobby are playing, Beau McCreery had low numbers today, but it’s a difficult role, we get it – I played it for a long time, I realised it, you don’t touch it,” he said.
Pies star’s crazy bicycle kick goal seals fiery crash
Collingwood has ridden yet another final quarter wave to see off a strong challenge from the Swans and win by 29 points in a feisty Sunday afternoon clash at the MCG.
Desperate for a win to get their season back on track, the Swans came out swinging, with tagger Ryan Clarke and their fleet of small forwards all over Nick Daicos during a fiery first quarter, but the Brownlow Medal favourite and his team had the last laugh as the Magpies booted five goals to one in the final term to seal their fourth consecutive victory and remain a game clear atop the ladder.
BRODY MIHOCEK YOU ARE KIDDING!#AFLPiesSwanspic.twitter.com/5rfBt3jFxD
— AFL (@AFL) May 7, 2023
Until he broke the shackles with a 10-disposal final term, Daicos’ impact was heavily limited by Clarke across halfback and by Swans co-captain Callum Mills at centre bounces as Sydney dominated the outside and played much of the game on its terms.
Dismal goalkicking meant the Swans never got clear of the Pies, managing just one goal from their first 12 set shots of the afternoon while the Magpies were more ruthless at the other end.
Brody Mihocek booted five goals including a stunning bicycle kick from the goal square in the dying moments, working hard to expose Sydney’s lack of height in defence, which remains an ongoing issue for the reigning grand finalist as it slumps to a 3-5 start.
Luke Parker was superb for the Swans at the coalface and had the perfect foil in Errol Gulden, who was the most impactful player on the ground as he gained a game-high 658m with his incisive left-foot kicking.
Isaac Quaynor held Tom Papley to one goal in a superb defensive performance and also stepped up to provide more rebound while Daicos was shut down.
SOCCER BACKGROUND?
Usually a different round ball game warrants a mention at Collingwood games, but a trio of fantastic soccer finishes (including the toe-poke from former soccer player Sheather) had the commentators singing a different tune on Sunday.
Hayden McLean tucked away a beautiful goal of his non-preferred into the bottom right corner during the second term, past a diving goalkeeper in Brayden Maynard, but this effort was upstaged in the last quarter by an incredible bicycle kick from Brody Mihocek, who had his arms locked with Nick Blakey in the goal square but expertly contorted his body to get boot to ball.
A lot of feeling in this one early.#AFLPiesSwanspic.twitter.com/EdQiI3nn1v
— AFL (@AFL) May 7, 2023
SWANS LET NICK KNOW
Collingwood star Nick Daicos was left in doubt he was responsible for Sydney’s first goal of the afternoon when he was swarmed by Swans forwards after Ryan Clarke streamed inside 50 to kick a major.
Nathan Murphy stormed in to defend his young teammate and collected Tom Papley, sparking a melee involving about 20 players which led to two further spot fires at the other end of the ground.
Clarke and Tom Mitchell locked horns following a Collingwood goal soon after, with the Magpies making it clear they would answer any Swans off-ball aggression towards the Brownlow Medal favourite with their own.
HEENEY STUNT DOUBLE MAKES SPLASH
Collingwood fans saw double when second-gamer Marc Sheather came off the bench to join lookalike Isaac Heeney in the Swans’ forward line.
With a near identical build and hair to the Sydney star, the spring heeled forward from the Central Coast scored his first AFL goal by unusual means.
Sheather lunged for a ball with a Collingwood defender and appeared to brush it with his foot as it crossed the line, but the consensus from players on both teams was the ball had been touched.
Every player on the ground set up for a Collingwood kick-in before a review confirmed it was a goal, meaning sadly subdued celebrations for the 20-year-old’s big moment.
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