Brownlow Medal favorite Nick Daicos is about to overlook six weeks with a knee fracture, sidelining the Collingwood younger gun till nicely into the AFL finals collection.
In large fallout from Saturday’s shock loss to Sixteenth-placed Hawthorn, the ladder-leading Magpies even have misplaced defender Nathan Murphy for 2 to 3 weeks with an ankle harm.
Daicos was harm within the second time period of Saturday’s twilight sport on the MCG as he was tagged out of the sport by Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness.
The prolific ball winner solely had 5 disposals for the sport, nicely under his common output.
Collingwood soccer boss Graham Wright stated the youthful of the Daicos brothers has a hairline fracture within the lateral tibial plateau of the appropriate knee joint.
“Nick has been seen by a specialist knee surgeon this morning and, while fortunately this does not require an operation, it will need time to heal before he returns to football,” Wright stated in a membership assertion.
“At this stage, the expected timeframe for Nick is six weeks.”
Murphy, a mainstay in defence for the Magpies, completed the sport on the bench alongside Daicos after needing to be helped from the sphere.
Wright stated Murphy was identified with a low-grade syndesmosis harm in his proper ankle.
“Nathan and Nick have played important roles this season, they are consummate professionals and will do all they can to progress though their rehab,” Wright added.
Daicos’s harm got here three days after he and older brother Josh signed long-term offers to stick with the Magpies.
After he was harm within the second time period, the youthful Daicos was crunched in a conflict with Hawthorn defender James Blanck early within the third quarter.
With the younger gun clearly not as his greatest, Collingwood despatched Daicos deep into assault for the second half and finally introduced him to the bench to complete the sport.
While Collingwood stay prime of the ladder, the accidents to Daicos and Murphy come on prime of successive upset losses to Carlton and Hawthorn.
It is the primary time the Magpies have misplaced two in a row since rounds eight and 9 final season.
Every week, opposition coaches have been requested how they plan to cease Nick Daicos, whose earlier lowest disposals in a sport this season had been 27.
While Maginness claimed an enormous scalp, Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell stated it was not simple.
“I’d love to tell you it was easy. It’s an absolute nightmare,” he stated.
“In the coaches’ box, it’s a nightmare. We have a meeting before the game – a ‘what ifs’ meeting.
“I’d say 30-40 per cent of it’s ‘okay, what if Daicos begins right here, does this, does that?'”
What was in no doubt is that Maginness had a blinder.
“Daicos is an absolute star. But Finn, I used to be actually happy with him,” Mitchell said.
Magpies coach Craig McRae acknowledged Maginness, but was asked if Daicos had enough support from his teammates.
Certainly the Magpies fired up when there was a tussle early in the third term – leading directly to a double-goal when Daicos was paid a free kick before the ball went back to the middle.
But McRae said it was an “attention-grabbing query” whether or not general, the younger Daicos had sufficient assist to beat the Maginness tag.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
