Sydney Swans criticised for continued attacks on Nick Daicos

An AFL great has gone on the attack at one club after they continued to target a rising star of the game in ugly scenes.

MELBOURNE. 06/05/2023. AFl. Round 8. Collingwood vs Sydney at the MCG. Swans players get stuck into Nick Daicos of the Magpies after a Ryan Clarke 1st qtr goal . Pic: Michael Klein

The Sydney Swans entered their Sunday contest against Collingwood at the MCG with a clear plan in mind.

Clubs had looked for ways to slow down the stellar play of Magpies second year star Nick Daicos, the Swans had a new tactic.

Watch every match of every round of the 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE on Kayo Sports. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

While deploying Ryan Clarke to run with the 20-year-old in a hard-tagging role, it was an all-out onslaught that saw Swans players target the youngster every chance they could.

From the opening bounce the fiery game plan was deployed with things boiling over after Clarke kicked his side’s opening goal.

Tempers flared and resulted in multiple bodies being slung to the turf as the umpires struggled to keep things under control.

The Swans went after him. Pic: Michael Klein

Daicos had a quieter day at the office with Clarke sticking by his side, finishing with 25 disposals, his lowest output so far in 2023.

Despite that the Swans fell apart in the second half as Collingwood flexed their muscles and pulled away to record a 29-point victory.

The result saw the Swans put in the gun for putting all their eggs into the Daicos basket and leaving other Pies stars free to float.

“This is the Daicos conundrum for all coaches – do you tag him, how far do you go, what do you give up in terms of how you want to play vs holding true?” David King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack.

“I think it’s gone too far … I reckon it’s lost balance and become all consuming.

“Clarke comes in to do that job all day … He still finishes with 25!

“(Daicos) is calm enough, 30 games in, to be able to handle it all day.

“It’s almost at the stage where all clubs just say, ‘we just have to play’.

“Today, (the Daicos tag) blew up. You may defeat one, but you don’t defeat the 22.

“What this kid’s doing is ridiculous.”

Clarke went after Daicos. Pic: Michael Klein

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said a negative tag, like the one applied by Clarke, wasn’t the answer and teams should instead look at what Brisbane deployed.

“There’s been a lot of talk about, you know, ‘When is someone going to tag Daicos?’,” Buckley said on SEN Breakfast.

“Now, what we saw is what happens when you tag Daicos.

“Maybe (Ben) Keays was a run with and tried to run off him, which is exactly how Brisbane were able to buffer his impact and take advantage of the way that he positions himself as a high back.

“Brisbane were the side that were able to do the most damage.

“But just a completely negative tag is not the answer.

“I reckon we’ll get everyone this week saying, ‘Oh, it doesn’t work tagging Daicos’, and they’ll be the same guys that were asking for it for the last eight weeks.”

The close attention didn’t faze the star 20-year-old who said he loves it when opponents tag him.

“We love it when I get a tag,” Daicos said after the game.

“We think we can manipulate the opposition, get a one-versus-none, so it’s a good thing for us.

“I’ve always got my teammates’ support, which I love. There was plenty of banter, but all good fun.”