Collingwood v Saints AFL 2026: Nick Daicos shines

“The system had to be changed to reward extreme play, and tonight he showed extreme play, didn’t he?” said McRae. “Nick is maturing so much right before our eyes.”

One of the talking points heading into the clash was whether St Kilda’s $2 million man, breakout star Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, was a superior player to Daicos.

McRae liked the silky, slippery Wanganeen-Milera enough to tap Harry Perryman on the shoulder as early as last Wednesday – at the insistence of club leaders – to see if he was interested in trying to cover for the shiny Saint. The plan continued until Friday.

Wanganeen-Milera had highlights, mostly in the first half, but his 19 disposals and a goal (a superb haul to give St Kilda the lead in the second term) were modest compared to Daicos’ heroics.

The Saints tried to move him to attack from midfield and eventually tried desperately to backtrack, but Perryman never left his side. McRae preferred to be versatile and adaptable on the fly; When Perryman fell behind, he sent Jack Crisp into midfield, while Lyon supported his system.

“Should we attack Daicos… maybe in hindsight,” Lyon said.

“He was 41. We sent someone [Garcia] looked at him for a while and ‘Nas’ didn’t have his best night but he never gave up and kept working. He needs to get through this stage.

“How many [Daicos’ disposals] were lateral, indisputable signs? I’m not so sure. Whether it’s ‘Nas’ or Daicos, I don’t think it’s either. [were] I thought, why did they get points? [Daicos] played his role. I could be wrong; I need to go home and examine it. It’s always dangerous. But no, I wouldn’t think of that.”

Former Giant Perryman, long known as the versatile Mr. Handyman, came as a bit of a surprise to Lyon and co. I chose not to give negative work to someone at Daicos.

He was more than happy to do the same at Wanganeen-Milera and spent the night marveling at his own teammate’s brilliance.

“I’m so grateful to be able to play with him,” Perryman said. Age From Daicos.

“I think one day I’ll sit back and be pretty amazed that I got to play with him because he’s one of a kind. He’s the best player I’ve ever played with, hands down. He’s a great teammate and we love him. He always surprises you; he’s a special talent.”

Another pre-match topic of conversation, perhaps a tiresome one, was Collingwood’s father’s army list; this list was again widely scrubbed and ranked as the underdogs to the Saints and their high-priced soldiers.

They fielded four players aged 32 or over: Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, Crisp and Jamie Elliott, and were without captain Darcy Moore and Jeremy Howe in defence, but they endured a frantic final quarter, conceding 63 goals while scoring just 11 from 40 in the 50s.

With this in mind, Collingwood’s high-performance manager Jarrod Wade devised a plan under new AFL rules, with five players on the bench for Pendlebury to play sparingly in the first half.

Joining former Hawk Michael Tuck, who was playing his 426th game, the 38-year-old five-time Copeland Trophy winner spent his time on the pine for much of the first and second quarters before entering the game late to ensure quality over quantity.

The result was ten point involvements and 26 disposals. Lyon, too, was mostly calm about Pendlebury.

“We thought his touches were of high quality… [but] He made one shot in the first half. We didn’t talk about him at halftime, out of respect for everyone,” Lyon said.

Perryman said he and his teammates laugh off criticism about their aging roster. When he was given two chances to do the same thing post-match, McRae took neither.

But the 2023 first-year coach clearly values ​​experience, whether it’s from Pendlebury and Sidebottom or the slightly younger Jordan De Goey, Dan Houston, Cameron and Moore. But McRae insists they are evolving.

“I know we’ll be big next week [again]. “We have a lot of experience, but our list is different,” he said.

“We don’t have Masons. [Cox]Tom Mitchell, Oleg Markov and Will Hoskin-Elliott [any more]. “We will need our entire list, but we have a team that knows what to do.”