Daicos gets the last laugh in hard-fought victory, but Saint’s tagging role has the footy world talking

Collingwood came into Saturday night’s clash with a clear intent: make St Kilda tagger Marcus Windhager’s night hell.

They bumped him, pushed him and tackled him to the turf every chance they had.

It was an intriguing subplot in an entertaining game as the hunter became the hunted.

The battle between Marcus Windhager and Nick Daicos was must-watch viewing all night.Credit: AFL Photos

As Collingwood fought off a determined Saints outfit to post a workmanlike 34-point victory at Marvel Stadium – 16.12 (108) to 11.8 (74), kicking the last four goals of the game, they also gave their star midfielder enough support to allow him to fight off his minder.

First Steele Sidebottom lined up Windhager for attention after the Magpies kicked their first goal. Then club legend Scott Pendlebury chested the Saint as he followed Daicos off the ground.

Next it was Jamie Elliott getting in Windhager’s face.

Collingwood had clearly drawn a line in the sand after the King’s Birthday clash.

If hard-running Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon had written a new book on how to stop Daicos, the Magpies were determined to add another chapter: Make the tagger pay the price.

“There was going to be cameras on it, there was a spotlight on it and I just said to Nick, when he came off for the first break, we don’t want him to fight the battle – we’ll fight them for him,” Magpies coach Craig Mcrae said after his star midfielder had driven Windhager into the ground and given away a free kick.

“As a group, and as a team, we want to look after him. I thought tonight, as a collective – Nick’s had 30 possessions, so I’d say that his performance was pretty impactful – the way we looked after Nick I was more proud of than what we have in recent times.”

Tim Membrey had some telling moments against his former side.Credit: AFL Photos

Their efforts reaped rewards at the 14-minute mark of the final term. Daicos found a centimetre on his shadow and snapped a goal with Windhager hanging off his shorts.

As the goal umpire raised the flags, the Magpie army almost lifted the Marvel roof.

The Collingwood players swamped Daicos as if he had kicked the first goal of his career.

“Can you see how much we enjoy it when he does things well? He means a lot to us,” McRae said.

To his credit, Windhager stuck to his task. The Saint managed five clearances in his 15 disposals.

“I loved his spirit,” Saints coach Ross Lyon said. “Stress under load equals growth. I’m sure he was stressed playing on a great player, against an incredibly experienced team.

“They came after him. I think Marcus gets stronger, and he’ll be forged a little bit more and gets harder. I said to him, ‘It reminds me of Ryan Crowley, Clint Jones and Cameron Ling’. I said, ‘I love it, mate’.”

Saints fans will have been heartened by their side’s efforts after they were embarrassed last week against the Bulldogs.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera continues to boost his stocks, amassing a game-high 35 disposals off half-back, while Jack Macrae had 29 disposals and their system challenged the Magpies.

St Kilda kicked the opening two goals of the final term to trail by just 10 points, but they then coughed up the last four majors of the match because they could not contain the Magpies’ depth.

“I think we started well. There was just one issue – we had two quarters, the second quarter and the fourth quarter, where we turned it over,” Lyon said.

“We know they are a good pressing team and a good pressure team, but how much of it was their good pressure, and how much was [it] our decision-making and system?

“They [Collingwood] just went back and scored. That’s where most of their turnover score came from.”

Collingwood’s depth was evident in their scoring spread. They had 11 individual goalkickers, while five players booted two apiece – Tim Membrey, Pat Lipinski, Daniel McStay, Darcy Cameron and Jamie Elliott.

“I thought they were really hard to play against tonight, particularly in the second quarter,” McRae said.

“Their clearances got going and we lost a lot of territory that way. I just kept saying to the guys, ‘Hang in there, we have just got to hang in there and embrace the struggle and the wrestle of this and we’ll have our time’. And it didn’t come until late.”

Collingwood lost Beau McCreery to hamstring soreness in the first term, while St Kilda had to swing a last-minute change after Mattaes Phillipou suffered calf soreness during a warm-up drill.

Cameron had five shots on goal as a ruckman.

“He’s important to us behind the ball – he’s been intercepting the ball – but tonight he went forward a bit more and challenged the Saints,” McRae said.

“Playing the Saints in recent times, they do get numbers back to make it hard to score.”

That’s all we have for you tonight.

Thanks so much for joining us on such a big day of footy.

We will have more AFL coverage on our sport websites in the days to come, so please keep checking back in.

Have a lovely evening, and bye for now.

Eyes on the ball: Power star Willie Rioli.Credit: Getty Images

Collingwood came into Saturday night’s clash with a clear intent: make St Kilda tagger Marcus Windhager’s night hell.

They bumped him, pushed him and tackled him to the turf every chance they had.

It was an intriguing subplot in an entertaining game as the hunter became the hunted.

The battle between Marcus Windhager and Nick Daicos was must-watch viewing all night.Credit: AFL Photos

As Collingwood fought off a determined Saints outfit to post a workmanlike 34-point victory at Marvel Stadium – 16.12 (108) to 11.8 (74), kicking the last four goals of the game, they also gave their star midfielder enough support to allow him to fight off his minder.

First Steele Sidebottom lined up Windhager for attention after the Magpies kicked their first goal. Then club legend Scott Pendlebury chested the Saint as he followed Daicos off the ground.

Next it was Jamie Elliott getting in Windhager’s face.

Collingwood had clearly drawn a line in the sand after the King’s Birthday clash.

If hard-running Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon had written a new book on how to stop Daicos, the Magpies were determined to add another chapter: Make the tagger pay the price.

“There was going to be cameras on it, there was a spotlight on it and I just said to Nick, when he came off for the first break, we don’t want him to fight the battle – we’ll fight them for him,” Magpies coach Craig Mcrae said after his star midfielder had driven Windhager into the ground and given away a free kick.

“As a group, and as a team, we want to look after him. I thought tonight, as a collective – Nick’s had 30 possessions, so I’d say that his performance was pretty impactful – the way we looked after Nick I was more proud of than what we have in recent times.”

Tim Membrey had some telling moments against his former side.Credit: AFL Photos

Their efforts reaped rewards at the 14-minute mark of the final term. Daicos found a centimetre on his shadow and snapped a goal with Windhager hanging off his shorts.

As the goal umpire raised the flags, the Magpie army almost lifted the Marvel roof.

The Collingwood players swamped Daicos as if he had kicked the first goal of his career.

“Can you see how much we enjoy it when he does things well? He means a lot to us,” McRae said.

To his credit, Windhager stuck to his task. The Saint managed five clearances in his 15 disposals.

“I loved his spirit,” Saints coach Ross Lyon said. “Stress under load equals growth. I’m sure he was stressed playing on a great player, against an incredibly experienced team.

“They came after him. I think Marcus gets stronger, and he’ll be forged a little bit more and gets harder. I said to him, ‘It reminds me of Ryan Crowley, Clint Jones and Cameron Ling’. I said, ‘I love it, mate’.”

Saints fans will have been heartened by their side’s efforts after they were embarrassed last week against the Bulldogs.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera continues to boost his stocks, amassing a game-high 35 disposals off half-back, while Jack Macrae had 29 disposals and their system challenged the Magpies.

St Kilda kicked the opening two goals of the final term to trail by just 10 points, but they then coughed up the last four majors of the match because they could not contain the Magpies’ depth.

“I think we started well. There was just one issue – we had two quarters, the second quarter and the fourth quarter, where we turned it over,” Lyon said.

“We know they are a good pressing team and a good pressure team, but how much of it was their good pressure, and how much was [it] our decision-making and system?

“They [Collingwood] just went back and scored. That’s where most of their turnover score came from.”

Collingwood’s depth was evident in their scoring spread. They had 11 individual goalkickers, while five players booted two apiece – Tim Membrey, Pat Lipinski, Daniel McStay, Darcy Cameron and Jamie Elliott.

“I thought they were really hard to play against tonight, particularly in the second quarter,” McRae said.

“Their clearances got going and we lost a lot of territory that way. I just kept saying to the guys, ‘Hang in there, we have just got to hang in there and embrace the struggle and the wrestle of this and we’ll have our time’. And it didn’t come until late.”

Collingwood lost Beau McCreery to hamstring soreness in the first term, while St Kilda had to swing a last-minute change after Mattaes Phillipou suffered calf soreness during a warm-up drill.

Cameron had five shots on goal as a ruckman.

“He’s important to us behind the ball – he’s been intercepting the ball – but tonight he went forward a bit more and challenged the Saints,” McRae said.

“Playing the Saints in recent times, they do get numbers back to make it hard to score.”

Magpies coach Craig McRae told Nick Daicos to keep his cool and he told his teammates to better support their superstar and it worked to a tee in the win over St Kilda tonight.

Daicos was fighting back when Saints tagger Marcus Windhager tried to put physical pressure on him in the first term and gave up a free kick.

Jamie Elliott of the Magpies celebrates a goal with Nick Daicos.Credit: Getty Images

But as the game went on, Daicos found room and have a big impact on the game.

“There was going to be cameras on it, there was a spotlight on it and I said to Nick when he came off at the first break, we don’t want him to fight, we will fight for him and he doesn’t need to get caught up in the wrestle and the free kick that went against him,” McRae said.

“As a group, as a team, we want to look after him and we don’t want him to feel like he is fighting his own battles. Nick has had 30 possessions so you would say that was pretty impactful but the way we looked after Nick, that was something I was more proud than I’ve been in recent times.”

Saints coach Ross Lyon.Credit: AFL Photos

Saints coach Ross Lyon has called his side’s performance against Collingwood a step forward, but his young side still has a lot of improvement to go.

“There were a lot of other parts of our game that were in really good order,” Lyon said post-game.

“I liked the step we took today for this group.”

Lyon seemed intrigued with Collingwood’s style of play.

“It’s interesting, playing Collingwood – you prepare for them, and they are experienced, very, very experienced,” Lyon said.

“They are conservative in a lot of ways. Off a quick turnover, they will really go, but they are otherwise very conservative in how they manage the game and protect themselves.”

Former Richmond great Jack Riewoldt has stuck up for the taggers, to a degree, as the discussion goes on about whether Marcus Windhager’s tactics tonight were acceptable.

“The kneeing is a free kick and [the] late one where he got him in the face is a free kick, but the rest of the stuff… it’s an art form,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.

“Ryan Crowley was a very good player because he was an elite tagger – same as Cameron Ling.”

Magpies coach Craig McRae has left it to the AFL to decide if Marcus Windhager’s kneeing tactics on Nick Daicos are deemed acceptable.

Fox Footy captured vision of Windhager appearing to knee Daicos in the hamstring at stoppages.

When shown the vision of the incidents, McRae wouldn’t comment but said all negating tactics only worked if they weren’t pulled up by umpires or league officials.

Marcus Windhager lays a crunching tackle on Nick Daicos.Credit: Getty Images

“The job of the tagger is to disrupt, and he’s doing that within the rules if they don’t pick it up,” McRae told Fox Footy.

“I won’t comment on the kneeing – that’s up to others to decide if that is a bit too far.

“But what I loved was how Nick just handled it tonight, and then it is about seeing whether they can run with you. Some weeks they can, some weeks they can’t, and tonight I thought Nick won that battle.”

Magpies coach Craig McRae.Credit: AFL Photos

McRae had raised the issue of tagging during the week in the lead-up to the game, and he spent part of his bye week thinking about how the Magpies can better free up Daicos, who had faced repeated tags throughout this season.

He broke free of Windhager to be among Collingwood’s best tonight.

“We thought he had a great game, and we spent a lot of time during the week trying to set Nick up to be the best player he can be,” McRae told Fox Footy.

“We know the opposition are trying to do the opposite of that most weeks – credit to him and I loved the way we supported him tonight.

“I spent 40 minutes with Nick during the week and most of my bye I spent thinking about how we can support him a bit better, and we are constantly trying to evolve our game to where Nick can have the most influence.

“We want him to be the best player he can be. I put on the table something around the value of the tag – without disrespecting the opposition, it was more about the reality is, if you tag, then it comes at a cost.”

Collingwood came into Saturday night’s clash with a clear intent: make St Kilda tagger Marcus Windhager’s night hell.

They bumped him, pushed him and tackled him to the turf every chance they had.

It was an intriguing subplot in an entertaining game as the hunter became the hunted.

As Collingwood fought off a determined Saints outfit to post a workmanlike 34-point victory at Marvel Stadium, kicking the last four goals of the game, they also gave their star midfielder enough support to allow him to fight off his minder.

Nick Daicos had all the answers for his tagger Marcus Windhager.Credit: AFL Photos

First Steele Sidebottom lined up Windhager for attention after the Magpies kicked their first goal.

Then club legend Scott Pendlebury chested the Saint as he followed Daicos off the ground.

Next it was Jamie Elliott getting into Windhager’s face.

Collingwood had clearly drawn a line in the sand after the King’s Birthday clash.

If hard-running Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon had written a new book on how to stop Daicos, the Magpies were determined to add another chapter: Make the tagger pay the price.

Coach Craig McRae had hinted at the approach during the week.

“I am constantly looking at how we can support Nick,” he said.

Their efforts reaped rewards at the 14-minute mark of the final term. Daicos found a centimetre on his shadow and snapped a goal with Windhager hanging off his shorts.

As the goal umpire raised the flags, the Magpie army almost lifted the roof.

The Collingwood players swamped Daicos as if he had kicked the first goal of his career.

But to his credit, Windhager stuck to his task. While Daicos had 30 possessions, the Saint managed five clearances in his 15 disposals.

Saints fans will have been heartened by their side’s efforts after they were embarrassed last week against the Bulldogs. Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera continues to boost his stocks, amassing a game-high 35 disposals off half back, while Rowan Marshall fought valiantly and Jack Macrae had 29 disposals.

St Kilda trailed Collingwood by 10 points in the final term, but could not contain the Magpies’ spread.

Collingwood’s depth was evident in their list of goal-kickers. They they had five players boot two apiece – Tim Membrey, Pat Lipinski, Daniel McStay, Darcy Cameron and Jamie Elliott. As Ross Lyon would attest, that is hard to stop.

Magpies skipper Darcy Moore won’t compare this year’s side to the 2023 premiership team, but he loves what he’s seeing from the 2025 edition.

The Magpies are clear on top of the ladder, but Moore wouldn’t say if he thinks they are better than the premiership team.

Magpies skipper Darcy Moore acknowledges the fans after the win over St Kilda.Credit: Getty Images

“I don’t know. We are constantly moving forward – we are not looking back, and every season feels really different,” Moore told Fox Footy.

“It feels like a new version for us and we are pretty excited about what we are putting out there.”

Moore said Nick Daicos did well to finally break free of tagger Marcus Windhager and finish with 30 possessions.

“Tonight, he was unbelievable. He found his space,” Moore told Fox Footy.

Nick Daicos admits he wasn’t sure about the “floater” kick he sent towards goal late in the match despite it sailing home for a goal.

“There was a bit of carry on, but it was an absolute floater [of a kick] so I think it was more relief when it sailed through,” Daicos told Fox Footy soon after the final siren.

Magpies star Nick Daicos.Credit: AFL Photos

“The boys were up and about, which was great.”

Daicos also praised ruckman Darcy Cameron as an All-Australian candidate.

“He’s clearly being talked about as the All-Australian ruckman, and he’s had a massive year last year and he’s backing it up again,” Daicos said.

“I think he had five or six shots at goal tonight so we were getting stuck into him about his goal kicking, but in all seriousness he is an amazing ruckman and so important for our system.”