Collingwood to make changes as Pies face worrying Nick Daicos issue against Demons
Although McRae's men have struggled in recent games having tumbled down from the top of the ladder into fourth after only one victory in their last six games. While Collingwood put in an improved performance in the three-point defeat to the Adelaide Crows last week, it wasn't enough.
And now Collingwood need a win to secure a top four finish in 2025. But the Magpies have been involved in a number of tough games against the Demons. One such game saw Ed Langdon tag Daicos and frustrate the Magpies star. While there were question marks about the nature of Langdon's tagging and whether it worked, it did frustrate Daicos.
McRae suggested Langdon may have won the duel last time the duo met even though Collingwood escaped with a one point win. Langdon got to Daicos, although the attention he showed the Magpies midfielder certainly impacted his own influence on the game with his stats limited.
Daicos will be wanting to put his best foot forward for his club and himself with the 22-year-old in the running for the Brownlow medal. And McRae has implored his players to support Daicos if they see him targeted in the pivotal clash.
"I wasn't happy with how we looked after Nick and the AFL world put a spotlight on that," McRae said. "We went to work on what that looked like. He hasn't been tagged for a few weeks, Nick, but we're well aware of what that was and what it could be."
Earlier in the season, Marcus Windhager's tagging of Daicos also raised eyebrows with fans divided over whether his treatment of the Collingwood star went too far. Although in that game against St Kilda, Daicos was the best on ground with 30 possessions and his crucial last-term goal left Windhager and his teammates demoralised.
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Craig McRae expects tag on Nick Daicos
Melbourne have seen some changes in recent weeks since their last match with Collingwood. Simon Goodwin has departed as head coach and Troy Chaplin has taken over as the interim manager. And when put to McRae on whether he expects Daicos to be tagged, the coach wasn't messing around.
"We anticipate yes but then there's the reality you've got to be ready for whatever," McRae said. "We'll have plans in place if it's happening and we'll try to exploit it if it's not, which we do most weeks."
Collingwood looking to bounce back
While the Magpies went down last week in a thrilling contest against the Crows, there wer ehuge signs of improvement. The Magpies dominated the inside 50 count, 71-37, but were unable to capitalise. But McRae is ready for his team to bounce back ahead of finals.
"We had a really poor performance (against Hawthorn) which we stood in and accepted wasn't good enough for our fans or for us, and we turned some things around," McRae said. There's an energy inside the building that we took a big shift forward last week. Although the four points didn't come with us, our pressure was back and our fight was back and our system was there to be seen."
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