You’ve got to give the devil his due. Even those who hate Nick Daicos, for whatever reason, love to chime in whenever there is an incident involving him, and Round 15 provided us with several.
Whilst the majority of the wash up has centred around the young Magpie’s opponent on the day, Marcus Windhager, and the actions he took as part of his duties to put the clamps on Daicos, there is a bigger story here that is being largely ignored, and I think we all know why.
The AFL Media are basically official purveyors of rage bait media. They love to focus on the negative, to the point where a story with a happy ending is cut off at the knees, to feed the masses who want a pund of flesh. The media believe the public want to know all about the villain, and how he was so evil, so bad, and is in need of the harshest possible punishment. They want you to be angry, because that’ll make you read their story, or watch their show.
As a result, we have had stories for the past 48 hours discussing tagging tactics, what the AFL should do about it, whether the clubs will get memos about what taggers can and cannot do, and how many weeks suspension Windhager should receive for his dastardly actions.
We’ll get it again this evening, as the handful of TV shows that battle for your attention float public hangings, floggings, and maybe even a rule change to prevent taggers, who have been part of the game for decades, from roughing up the stars of the game.
That’s the AFL Media in a nutshell, but they have missed the big story, and it is one that Magpie supporters should be embracing, wholeheartedly.
They missed the chance to celebrate the tagged becoming the winner. They missed the opportunity to embrace the “good guy” overcoming the tactics employed to stop him. They got so caught up in the bad that occurred that they completely forgot how good the good actually was!
I might be old-fashioned… nah, scratch that – I am old-fashioned. Some may even call me a dinosaur, but I love seeing a player rise to the challenge, overcome obstacles, and fucking win!
That, to me, is so much more interesting than the incessant whining about who did what wrong and how badly we can punish them. I don’t think I am on an island with that, am I?
One of the knocks on Daicos over the past couple of years is how he deals with physical pressure, as though he is an outside runner and doesn’t win his own footy, or something.
Here are a few facts for the people who like to spout that garbage.
Daicos is 28th in the league in contested possessions.
He is eighth overall in clearances.
He is tenth in the all-important centre clearances.
He is coming off a season where he was sixth in contested possessions, third in clearances, and third in centre clearances.
In short, this bloke wins more hard footy than 779 players on AFL lists this season, and people choose to label him as weak, or soft?
Give me a spell!
He is a brilliant player, who can work both inside and outside, and does it with someone hanging off his back every week.
This weekend was yet another notch on his belt. After being harassed and harangued for the majority of the game, it was Daicos who kicked the goal to break the hearts of the Saints. It was a moment of pure joy – a man overcoming the odds and slotting the goal to kill off the chances of his opponents. Marcus Windhager was right with him, desperately reaching for him to bring him down one last time and retain a small chance that the Saints may make a late charge, but Daicos put paid to his hopes, and those of St Kilda supporters.
As the ball sailed through, Daicos lay on his back and was mobbed by his teammates. They knew how big that moment was. They could see it, hear it, and feel it.
Windhager knew, as well. He lay a metre or so away, beaten by one of the best. Not disgraced – not by a long shot – but beaten, nonetheless.
I like Windhager. There are some who were unfamiliar with his game that will now look at him as a tagger and not much else. Those people have not watched many St Kilda games. He is a great run-with player, but can win plenty of his own footy, as well. Yes, he was physical with Daicos. Yes, he walked a very fine line, and yes, he gave away free kicks. However, he did what he was out there to do to the best of his abilities.
It’s just that Daicos’ abilities are far greater.
As the footy world gets caught up in the angst of the post-round frenzy, and either celebrate Windhager copping a fine for what looked to me like a push to the chest, or lament the punishment not being harsh enough, the big story is missed.
This weekend was not about Windhager getting his hand slapped for doing something wrong.
It wasn’t about nasty tactics and whining members of the AFL media throwing their two cents into the ring about how we outlaw negating players.
This weekend was about Nick Daicos standing up when the tagger came for him.
Again.
He did it earlier this season when the Swans threw James Jordon his way. Jordan is rarely beaten. Even less often, he gets trounced. Daicos trounced him.
And in the second half of this contest, he also put Marcus Windhager to the sword.
Say what you like about Nick Daicos. Cast aspersions on his toughness, his ability to win his own footy, or his pleading with the umpires. Go nuts.
But don’t ever dispute how good he is as a footballer, or how tough he is, mentally. He demonstrated his psychological strength this weekend, and did it against one of the toughest players in the game to get a kick on.
He deserves all the plaudits Pies fans throw his way, whether you like it, or not.
As always, massive thanks to those who support this work. You can see the amount of care that goes into it. I love footy, I love writing about it, and I hope you enjoy reading it. Without you, this whole thing falls over. Sincerely… thank you – HB
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