Analysis of the King’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood at the MCG

Melbourne fell to Collingwood in a close loss on King’s Birthday. But Scott Gullan writes, Ed Langdon’s tag on Nick Daicos won the respect of the competition.

Not since Tony Liberatore won the Brownlow Medal has the role of the tagger been such a talking point.

On a day when Neale Daniher inspired everyone to dig in for the fight and keep scrapping, Ed Langdon took it literally when he zeroed in on Nick Daicos.

It was the sub-plot this King’s Birthday clash needed. The conditions were going to ensure it was a dour contest, so the game needed an interesting narrative to keep everyone entertained.

Tagging the youngest Daicos is not a new idea, a few have tried over the journey but generally it ends up being too hard and by the end of the game the Brownlow Medal favourite has snuck out to 30 possessions and Collingwood has won again.

But Langdon is not your everyday tagger. This was a special assignment on a special day which would have warmed the hearts of old-school coaches.

Taking out your opponent’s best player used to be a thing but the modern-day theory tends to focus on our system beating yours and we’ll pig-headedly back it in.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin knew he had the perfect man for the job because you need a unique skill set to have a chance against N Daicos.

The old-school big body blocking taggers - the best of the modern era was Geelong premiership captain Cameron Ling - don’t work on the Pies star because his dancing feet get him out of contests so quickly.

Nick Daicos is tackled by Ed Langdon. Picture: Getty Images

Langdon has made a name for himself over his career as a hard-running wingman with discipline and leg speed being his two main characteristics.

The Demon’s plan was for Langdon to start at half-forward - often opposed to the other Daicos Josh - with Kysaiah Pickett going into the centre bounces. But as soon as the ball was cleared, the lock went on.

Langdon would ignore where the ball had gone and find Collingwood’s No.35. He would then literally not leave his side even if the ball was 100m away, he was in Daicos’ space.

In the first quarter Langdon didn’t even touch the ball but it didn’t matter because Daicos only had five. He only had two more in the second quarter with the crowning moment for the Demons tagger coming when he was awarded a holding the ball free-kick in the middle of the MCG.

A couple of free-kicks against Langdon for holding on at stoppages helped Daicos to get moving and he was up to 14 touches at three-quarter time which included six clearances and five inside 50s.

Daicos hit the scoreboard in the last term. Picture: Getty Images

But Langdon’s worst nightmare happened six minutes into the final quarter. After Daicos had caught Pickett and been awarded a free-kick for dropping the ball, the Demons forward failed to give the ball back properly.

He received a 50m penalty and then was walked to 20m out where the Pies superstar kicked truly and celebrated with gusto.

There was another gift later in the term when he expertly played for a free-kick, throwing himself forward in a marking contest against Langdon. None of the 77,761 in the stands fell for it but umpire No.17 John Howorth did.

There was a sea of blue in the crowd. Picture: Getty Images

While Daicos missed the set shot, the irony that one point would be the margin at the end of an pulsating final quarter wouldn’t be lost on Langdon.

Another irony that wouldn’t be lost on Goodwin was that while he kept one Daicos in check, the other one burnt him the most with Josh Daicos winning the Neale Daniher Trophy for best-on-ground thanks to 34 disposals.

Nick Daicos finished with 19 touches, eight clearances and one goal which was his second-lowest possession count over the past year. Langdon had just four possessions and six tackles but won the respect of the competition.

He showed the impossible could be done and went a long way to giving his team a chance of an upset against the best team in the competition.

Whether it catches on will be interesting but the Langdon blueprint is there for everyone to follow.

Max Gawn clashes with Steven May

How Melbourne blew their chances over the final couple of minutes will also be analysed at length as will captain Max Gawn’s confrontation with teammate Steven May after the siren.

Gawn had been heroic as usual and with 40 seconds remaining he took another big mark in the back pocket to save the day.

Knowing the clock wasn’t on his side, the ruckman tried to kick a torpedo as far as he could but instead it slewed off his boot and ended in the arms of Pies forward Will Hoskin-Elliott.

It was a cruel way for the game to end and as Hoskin-Elliott went back, Daicos and Langdon were again into each other, fighting and scrapping to the final second just as Neale Daniher had urged them to do.

Originally published as Analysis of the King’s Birthday clash between Melbourne and Collingwood at the MCG