Collingwood coach Craig McRae says he‘s managing Brownlow favourite Nick Daicos like a “two-year-old racehorse”, conceding the young star is enduring niggles and would be given rest during the week to avoid missing games.
On Friday morning, McRae confirmed Mason Cox would play for the first time since round 2 and it was “good to have someone tall back in the team”, having used back-up ruckmen in their charge to the top of the AFL ladder.
Daicos, playing just his second season at the top level, has been key in that charge with a run of form some have declared among the best starts to an AFL career.
Having blitzed the opening six rounds, which included snaring the Anzac Medal in round 6, the 20-year-old was on light duties at training this week, having played in last week’s nailbiting win over Adelaide with some soreness.
McRae mentioned midweek administration of Daicos could be essential this season however resting him from video games wasn’t one thing that was in his plans for now.
“Would you rest him?” he responded when requested if Daicos would get a spell.
“He was a little bit sore going into the (Adelaide) game and then we looked after it postgame.
“People forget he’s a young body. He’s only in his second year. He hasn’t played much footy prior to last year and we’re going to look after his body, so we did.
“I liken (young players) to horses – two-year-old horses don’t race too often, some do and then they need a break, recover and go again, so we’re gonna have to do that during the week.”
McRae conceded Daicos had a “couple of little niggles” he was additionally coping with.
“It’s nothing major, nothing that we can’t manage, just a bit of time to recover,” he mentioned.
Former captain Scott Pendlebury can even return after lacking the Crows’ conflict with an eye fixed harm sustained on Anzac Day.
McRae confirmed the membership had spoken to the AFL umpiring division about a number of controversial choices within the win over Adelaide, together with an incident that resulted in a blow to the pinnacle for defender Nathan Murphy.
The AFL admitted within the aftermath its umpires erred in not awarding Murphy a free kick after he was clattered by Crows ahead Darcy Fogarty and compelled from the bottom.
But McRae mentioned there was no want, nor time, to dwell on the difficulty forward of the membership’s first conflict with the Swans on the MCG since 2013.
“What’s the point?,” he mentioned of worrying about what occurred.
“We’re looking to move on. I think they admitted a couple of errors.
“I’m not aware if that’s true or not but we keep moving forward.”
Source: www.news.com.au
