Nick Daicos torched over embarrassing act against St Kilda

Just when it seems things can’t get worse for Collingwood in 2024, the club’s biggest star has been exposed by ugly footage.

Nick Daicos got tossed into the atmosphere. Photo: Fox Footy.

Nick Daicos has been called out after some lacklustre defensive efforts during Collingwood’s loss to St Kilda on Thursday night.

The Magpie has emerged as one of the best players in the competition in a meteoric rise to the top, but ugly footage on Thursday night shows the 21-year-old has a long way to go.

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Collingwood coach Craig McRae put senior premiership players on notice in his post-match press conference over fundamental errors — and basic tackling was certainly an issue for Daicos.

The reigning premiers are in all sorts of trouble after dropping their third straight game to start the 2024 season, falling 14.10 (94) to 12.7 (79) to the Saints at the MCG.

Clips of Daicos being hesitant to get involved in scrappy moments of contested play swirled around cyberspace on Thursday night, despite the fact the ball-magnet still finished the match with nine contested possessions.

It is because of Daicos’ high standards that his poor night at the office has received so much attention.

Kane Cornes on Firday described Daicos’ performance as “jumpy”.

“Nick Daicos was timid last night,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.

“I know that’s a criticism he probably hasn’t copped much in his 50 games. It’s really tough to single him out because he’s been as consistent as anyone, but he was timid.

“In the contest he missed tackles, he fumbled and he was jumpy.”

One particular moment where Daicos was tossed aside like an old glove in the first quarter has caused a stir with one video clip of the moment being watched 17,000 times on Twitter.

After failing to snatch up a bouncing ball that ended up being handpassed to St Kilda’s Mitch Owens, Daicos was shoved off by the Saints forward despite being in a perfect position to make a tough tackle.

From there it was a social media pile on as every moment where he failed to make his physical presence felt was put under a microscope.

Mitch Owens fends of Nick Daicos. Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images.

Nick Daicos got tossed into the atmosphere. Photo: Fox Footy.

One video which showed him failing to pick up a centre bounce loose ball before an apparent casual second effort has been watched by more than 27,000 times with one post claiming it was a “soft” effort.

One video of another moment where he was muscled off the ball by Jack Steele before being ineffective in three cases where tackles could have been made has also been viewed 19,000 times.

The general lack of effort across the board was noted by AFL legends Dermott Brereton and Jason Dunstall when analysing the game on Fox Footy on Thursday.

“Collingwood, to be brutally honest, weren’t prepared to put their bodies on the line like St Kilda were.” Dunstall said.

St Kilda great Leigh Montagna pointed to Collingwood’s older players as a part of the root cause of the side’s early-season issues.

“To be fair, some of veteran senior players just aren’t quite the same,” Montagna told Fox Footy post-game.

“Some of their veterans — who have been so good for them for so long — they just haven’t come to the party to start the season.

“They don’t look invested, that’s obvious ... They don’t look anywhere near as tough as what we saw last year.”

Darcy Moore and Nick Daicos of the Magpies. Pic: Michael Klein.

Fox Footy’s David King said: “I don’t know if they’re as invested in this method of defence, or this pattern of play anymore.

“They’re looking for easy kicks ... they look jittery.”

“It’s a really disrespectful way of playing, it really is. When it fails, it looks really poor — I don’t know whether they paid the price on offence or defence.”

After 12 of the Saints’ 15 goals came directly from Collingwood turnovers, McRae said it was obvious what the side had to address to mend its course.

“12 goals, that’s a big number. You see the ones that we can control, there’s a lot of fundamental errors we’re making, from experienced players, that you wouldn’t expect,” he said.

“I think you can see the fundamental skills that are just sloppy, rusty, clunky, just giveaway goals.

“The little things that you just take great pride in. Let’s get busy on these things that we’re really good at, because for parts of tonight … whether you want to look through an optimistic lens, it was a lot more like us tonight than it has been for the last two weeks.”

The last team to start 0-3 and win the premiership was North Melbourne in 1975, while the last to start 0-3 and earn a grand final berth was also North Melbourne, just a year later in ‘76.

Collingwood joins 2023 Geelong as only reigning premier to be 0-3 in the AFL era.

Still searching for their first triumph of the new season, the Pies will travel to play Brisbane next Thursday night.