Nick Daicos has had one of the greatest individual seasons in the game’s history.
He’s already won the AFLPA’s MVP award. Collingwood’s best and fairest is a formality, no matter what their voting system is. It’s not a matter of if he wins his first Brownlow Medal in three weeks, but by how far. On Friday night, he was comfortably the Magpies’ best player.
“I’m not sure he could have done much more this year,” Collingwood coach Craig McRae said after his club’s agonising three-point loss to the Western Bulldogs.
But as well as Daicos has played this season, he could make his team no better than bang average. They will finish ninth, at best. Of their past 33 games, they have won less than half with 15.
Even the hardier Pies fans will not want to contemplate where they would be without Daicos. His heroics have papered over the cracks all season, but warts are exposed in finals. This game was lost for the Magpies long before Tim Membrey’s kick after the siren slewed to the right.
The Pies were comprehensively beaten at stoppage – by 10 out of the middle and 19 overall – conceding five goals from the centre. This included Aaron Naughton’s clutch mark and goal moments after Jack Crisp gave the Pies the lead for the first time since the opening term.
“We got smashed,” Daicos said of their clearance work.
Collingwood list boss Justin Leppitsch should give Brisbane’s Lachie Neale what he needs to trade the maroon, blue and gold for the black and white. An industry source believes the Pies are in the box seat to get him.
Neale is well and truly into the veteran category, but even at the age of 33 he would make the Pies younger than they were this year.
Steele Sidebottom has said goodbye, given a guard of honour by both clubs as he walked off an AFL field for a 375th and final time to Alex Lloyd’s Amazing.
The signs are also pointing to a farewell for Scott Pendlebury, who had the look of a man who won’t be wearing the club’s famous jumper again when he hugged a host of well-wishers in the rooms.
Daicos and Marcus Bontempelli are widely regarded as the two best players in the game, but whereas Collingwood’s champion played close to a lone hand in the midfield, the Bulldogs captain had a wolf pack following his lead.
In his first final as an onballer, Matt Kennedy played the perfect support act to Bontempelli. But he will be missed next week, having entered concussion protocols. Ed Richards was down from his usual high standards but was better than all bar Daicos from the Pies midfield.
Beau McCreery provided the grunt but had no support from other workhorses. Ed Allan and Ned Long had 16 and 15 centre bounce attendances for one centre clearance between them, and possession tallies of 13 and 16 respectively. Jordan De Goey had a big moment with a goal in time-on, but did little else.
Sam Swadling was the best of their seven finals debutants, and Angus Anderson kicked two crunch goals in the last term, but the rest had little to no impact.
Granted, the Pies were without leaders Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard, Jamie Elliott, Pendlebury and the dependable Harry Perryman, but the Dogs batted deeper, which is not usually said about them.
Their finals newbies were influential. Arty Jones was among the best on field, booting four goals with his 17 disposals. His chase on Jeremy Howe turned what should have been an easy Pies rebound into a goal to Cody Weightman.
Ryley Sanders and Joel Freijah, in his second final, provided midfield depth, ensuring the Dogs – unlike the Pies – still had bark in the centre when their A-listers were resting.
The Pies looked most threatening when they triggered turnovers at half-back, allowing them to stream through the middle with speed, but were forced to play out of their defensive half for too long.
Their ball movement was electrifying when Daicos was involved, but lacked penetration when he wasn’t. “Dysfunctional” was how Daicos described it overall.
“Didn’t look like we had any method to what we were doing, and it looked like Doggies did,” Daicos said.
This would have been a heist if Membrey had converted.
Membrey’s miss was the climax of a stunning final term where the lead changed on four occasions in time on.
The Dogs have been the cliffhanger kings this season, winning eight from eight in matches decided by a single-digit margin, but almost blew this game after Sam Davidson kicked a point the Dogs did not need.
In a matter of 19 seconds and three possessions, the Pies ran the ball from their goal line for Membrey to mark inside 50.
Even with the support of his teammates, who rushed to him instantly, Membrey cut a forlorn figure.
“The year he’s had to support our young forward line and be a pillar in that forward line – it’s more than just tonight,” McRae said.
“So I just said to him, ‘Don’t carry it’. It’s hard not to. I can’t imagine what that would be like, but he doesn’t need to carry the weight of that. That’s not all his.”
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