Of all the players to do it, it was a fringe player – not a star – who proved it could be done. Finn Maginness shut down Nick Daicos.
A player who hadn’t been kept to fewer than 25 touches this year only had five in round 21 when the big Hawthorn midfielder was set the tunnel-visioned task of stopping the Collingwood prodigy.
Finn Maginness did a great job shadowing Nick Daicos in Hawthorn’s upset round 21 win over Collingwood.Credit: AFL Photos
So, it can be done effectively, which is something Brisbane Lions coach Chis Fagan will bear in mind, but it’s doubtful Fagan will do it. The Lions tend not to use a heavy tag as Hawks coach Sam Mitchell did with Maginness.
The Lions’ Josh Dunkley nullified Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps in the preliminary final, but that was more of a head-to-head pairing of the players in which Dunkley came out the better rather than a truly negative defensive role on Cripps. It is more likely the Lions would put Dunkley head to head with a more natural fit for the big-bodied Jordan De Goey – a creative player who was the best on ground in the preliminary final – than Daicos.
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That is not to say Fagan would not send a player to play tightly on Daicos should the Magpie playmaker be damaging. Fagan has seen that Daicos can be beaten by a single-focused defensive midfielder, and if you can take out the opposition’s most threatening midfielder, why wouldn’t you?
“All taggers don’t really want the ball,” Collingwood veteran and former skipper Scott Pendlebury said, noting that the tagger’s first and primary job was to stop the player, and getting the ball was a bonus.
“No doubt Sam Mitchell worked with Finn on tagging because Sam would have been tagged the hardest of all their midfield when he played.”
Pendlebury, who has been tagged periodically – and unsuccessfully – through his 382 games, has a simple philosophy to beating the tag.
“My theory on that has always been you are a good player for a reason, you will take them to the ball, so you have to keep working and working through it. Ryan Crowley, Clint Jones, those [kinds of] guys, they didn’t care if they didn’t touch it as long as you didn’t touch it. Then guys like Kane Cornes would try and split and run behind the ball to get a few possessions and get in your head that way.
“The best guys are the ones who, when the ball is around, try and nullify and take you out.
“It’s not like that Hawthorn game was the first time Nick has been tagged – that was the first time he’d been tagged and beaten.”
Scott Pendlebury on Finn Maginness’ effort against Nick Daicos in round 21
“It comes down to work rate and the role, so you stick to that.
“I learnt a lot of it from Swanny [Dane Swan]. You play in the middle and you mightn’t have 35 possessions that game, but you might have 22 really good ones. [Beating them] never happens in the first quarter because they are as fit, as strong, so you rely on your footy IQ, your smarts and hopefully over four quarters you wear them down.
“It’s not like that Hawthorn game was the first time Nick has been tagged – that was the first time he’d been tagged and beaten.
“When Port Adelaide had a go at it, Lachie Jones was beaten by Nick, but Willem Drew did OK on him, but Nick still had 24 and kicked a really good goal in the last quarter that game.
Collingwood’s Josh and Nick Daicos flank their dad - club great, Peter - ahead of a big grand final week.Credit: Luis Ascui
“That’s just Nick’s lot for a long time when he is tagged, just working through it and being smarter. Even [in] the Hawthorn game, until he hurt his knee, Nick went forward took a good mark [so] it might be going forward and kicking two or three goals.
“Nick’s got that ability. If you are down there with him, it’s a whole new ball game because he is so quick, smart, [and has] endurance. If you are a tagger, do you want to be sitting there [with Daicos forward and one-out]?”
Peter Daicos was a brilliant centreman before switching to become a permanent forward.Credit: Getty Images
Peter Daicos thinks the answer, whether the tag comes on grand final day or returns next year when clubs take a leaf from the Hawthorn book on stopping his son, is to take the tagger where he doesn’t want to go.
“At the end of the day, you take them to the goal square and that is where they will panic. That is what I would be doing with a tag, especially one like Maginness. And Nick did go forward and kick a goal [and] then hurt his leg.”
Peter was tagged as a player when he played in the centre early in his Collingwood career, before becoming a permanent forward later on. He understands how to beat the tag, and he also understands his son’s game – both of his sons’ games – better than anyone.
“Beating the tag, at the end of the day, is just getting to as many contests [as possible], [getting] support from your teammates as well, [and] a bit of blocking and shielding,” he said.
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“I don’t know if the Lions will tag him [Nick]. They got there because of their attacking-type style and they are going onto a bigger ground, they are saying it’s going to be 28 degrees and they [the Lions’ midfielders] are big bodies.
“They like the smaller grounds to be able to run over you – they are tractors, they like the physicality.
“The beauty of Nick’s game, and one of his strengths, is he is following up the ball all the time, so you give it and you go again, and go again, and if you have got the ability and stamina, and the tank, that is what you need to do.
“It’s the same now as it was 40 years ago – still the easiest way to get a kick is to run.”
