‘Are you serious?’: AFL legend’s disbelief of Daicos’ growth

Collingwood younger gun Nick Daicos’ Brownlow Medal odds are shortening with every recreation, nevertheless it’s his exceptional fitness center stats that left a former membership nice in awe of the 20-year-old.

Former Magpies coach Nathan Buckley, himself a Brownlow Medal winner, laughed as he requested Daicos’ teammate – and fitness center buddy – Isaac Quaynor if a hearsay in regards to the star’s fitness center enchancment was true.

“Nick reckons he went from an 80kg 1RM (bench press) to a 120kg 1RM in one pre-season, is that accurate?” Buckley requested on Fox Footy.

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“That is spot on!” Quaynor replied.

A clearly stunned Buckley then stated: “Are you serious?”

Quaynor then detailed how he and Daicos opted to do further low season fitness center work in a bid to bulk up for season 2023.

“I witnessed every single session and I always say with Nick, I’ve never seen someone with such a high level of talent and such a want to get better and that kind of epitomises it right there,” he advised Fox Footy.

“Nick and I did a fair bit of work in the off season together … Nick put on a whole bunch of weight and got really strong.

“We kind of really push each other, have a lot of fun doing it.

“It’s so cool to see what he’s doing this year – it’s unbelievable.”

But Quaynor laughed as he advised the Fox Footy panel: “I’ve got him covered – he’ll never catch me, don’t worry!”

Four-time premiership winner Jordan Lewis stated the actual fact Daicos was capable of proceed to dominate along with his ability after including bulk to his body was spectacular.

“It’s interesting listening to Quaynor speak – (Daicos) goes into the gym and obviously puts on size and strength but hasn’t lost what makes him a really good player,” he stated.

“His explosiveness out of congestion, the ability to use some touch with the ball in hand.

“It’s a fine balance.

“But to put the dedication into the gym and know that’s going to transfer into playing, it’s a good lesson for all the young kids.”

Daicos confirmed how switched on he was through the opening minutes of Friday evening’s recreation, pulling off a slick nearly no-look handball from a centre bounce clearance to a working Jack Crisp off the halfback line.

“It was a great way to start the game wasn’t it?” Crisp advised foxfooty.com.au post-game.

“He’s really great and clean in there. He’s a wonder to have around the stoppages. He’s got great footy smarts for a second-year player. He’s really killing it.”

It was Daicos’ third straight recreation enjoying extra midfield minutes as he completed with a career-high 11 clearances.

But Crisp, who performed a bit extra off halfback on Friday evening, stated there hadn’t been a major change in dynamic since Daicos’ injection into the on-ball brigade.

“We’ve got so many midfielders that can go through there,” Crisp stated.

“We’ve been sharing the load really well and we’ve got a lot of blokes that have some different strengths in there, whether they’re attacking midfielders where they run hard and can get from contest to contest, or a defensive midfielder like Pendles who can play the perimeter and control the corridor a bit more. And then we’ve got a couple of guys up forward that are midfielders as well who are filling those roles.”

Coach Craig McRae laughed when speaking about Daicos’ need to play extra midfield minutes after spending his debut yr throughout half again.

“He keeps coming to me midweek saying, ‘am I playing mids? Am I playing mids?’ It’s hard to put him back isn’t it?” he stated in his post-match press convention.

“He’s really impacting the game.”

Daicos, named the Bob Rose-Charlie Sutton Medallist within the win over the Western Bulldogs for finest on floor, racked up a team-high 29 disposals – 15 of these contested. He additionally had group highs for clearances (11) and tackles (6), and completed with two targets, together with one which left dad Peter dancing within the stands.

“We are running out of superlatives for this young man,” Buckley praised.

“He’s got the deception of a (Scott) Pendlebury … and got the short speed of a Dane Swan – you put those two together and it’s pretty hard to stop.”

Originally revealed as ‘Are you serious?’ Daicos’ stark fitness center reveal leaves Nathan Buckley surprised

Source: www.news.com.au