Collingwood star Nick Daicos does extra sessions to get finals ready

Nick Daicos was doing some extraordinary work on his own on Wednesday in his bid to join Collingwood’s finals campaign.

Nick Daicos has been training on his own to get finals ready. Picture: Tony Gough

Collingwood star Nick Daicos has pushed himself in a solo training session on Wednesday as he ramped up his bid to make an AFL finals return from a knee injury.

The young gun reappeared for the first time since his cameo in front of the Magpies faithful on Sunday, training by himself at Olympic Park on Wednesday morning.

The All-Australian midfielder upped the ante as he tried to prove he had recovered from the hairline fracture in his knee, completing a series of conditioning drills including lunges holding a wooden stick.

He again completed run-throughs at a high speed with some slight change of direction work.

Daicos’ freedom of movement put to bed any concern he had pulled up poorly after the Sunday session given his absence from the Magpies’ main training run on Tuesday.

Plenty of work with the footy as well, this has been a lengthy session pic.twitter.com/5xrB00f0OL

— Ed Bourke (@edbourke6) September 5, 2023

He spent a significant amount of time doing skills work with two Collingwood staffers before the Magpies’ captain’s run.

The exact timeline for the 20-year-old’s return is unclear, but the Magpies expect him to be available at least by preliminary finals week.

Coach Craig McRae would not say on Tuesday whether Daicos would be available should the Pies lose to Melbourne and be forced into a semi-final next week.

“We’re hoping we’re not going to have to worry about that,” he said.

“We’ll take what we can control right now.”