Footy Fix: Sidebottom was great
Sometimes, the greatest players of our game find their hype outmatching their own performance.
Commentators gush over every simple moment, their name is mentioned at every turn, and even the most humdrum display in which ten teammates had a superior imput gets rewarded with medals, Brownlow votes, and general acclaim.
But sometimes the opposite is true – players become so great that outstanding displays become par for the course, the incredible standards they’ve set for themselves a barrier to receiving their just desserts for meeting them yet again.
If you read the headline, you can probably see where I’m going with this.
Steele Sidebottom was tremendous, Jamie Elliott vital, Josh Daicos wonderfully composed and Jeremy Howe a rock in defence – but Nick Daicos was the best player on the field on Anzac Day.
To be pipped for the annual medal was understandable if unlucky – to not receive a single vote from any of the four judges was an utter travesty.
And the only explanation I have for it is that Daicos, at 22 years of age, two years to the day from one of the greatest individual Anzac Day performances in history, has become a victim of his own brilliance.
Nick Daicos escapes the clutches of Zach Merrett. (Photo by James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Think Marcus Bontempelli receiving a mere 19 Brownlow Medal votes for his extraordinary 2024 season, or Charlie Cameron kicking 50 goals as a small forward in back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022 and not being named All-Australian in either, or Alex Rance getting decried as overrated by people who had no comprehension of his worth in the early days of Richmond’s juggernaut.
As for Sidebottom’s win? As good as he was, and as wonderful as he has been for a decade and a half in black and white, his transformation from washed-looking wingman to inside midfield maestro has been the major talking point out of Collingwood’s season to date.
That makes it easy to look at his extraordinary stat line on Friday – 35 disposals, 22 contested possessions and a staggering 15 clearances – and take them at face value as the remarkable numbers they are.
Daicos’ numbers themselves are nearly as impressive as Sidebottom’s, for one matter: 15 clearances to the veteran is hailed, rightly, as a supreme performance in wet conditions, yet Daicos’ 11 (no other Magpie had more than five) is just another day at the office.
Sidebottom had 598 metres gained for his side, critical in wet conditions; Daicos, from four fewer disposals, had 619. And with seven tackles, no one dished out more hugs in the MCG pressure cooker than the No.35.
The key difference, I would argue, between Sidebottom and Daicos is that Sidebottom played to the conditions – and did it wonderfully well – while Daicos transcended them.
Sidebottom took territory by foot whenever there wasn’t an immediate option, whacking the ball on the boot as quickly as he could and forcing the Bombers to defend against a slippery ball, faced with a deadly Pies small forward brigade.
Daicos, though, made it look a dry day: bursting out the front of stoppages with menace, lacing out targets, constantly finding space despite surely being the man on the mind of every Bombers player with a lick of sense, and, of course, dobbing through the first goal of the game on the run from 50 with the greatest of ease.
Daicos’ nine inside 50s was the highest on the day, with his nine score involvements second-highest; with two goal assists, he only finished behind Ned Long (who, it must be said, was unexpectedly polished with his kicking inside 50 for a man renowned for his grunt work).
Sidebottom, for all his excellent close-in work and remarkable six centre clearances, was only involved in three Magpie scores. From seven inside 50s, that ratio is a good deal lower than Daicos – and I have no doubt which of the two was causing Brad Scott more consternation in the Essendon box.
When the game had to be won in the third quarter, it was Nick and Josh providing the lion’s share of the damage; given the ball every time it was feasible by their teammates, they combined for six of the Magpies’ 10 consecutive inside 50s in the second half of that term, which led to four Collingwood goals to one that sucked the life out of an Essendon comeback that briefly looked overwhelming.
Earlier on, seven of his eight first-quarter disposals came forward of the centre circle – little wonder he appeared so damaging to the eye, because that’s exactly what he was, and little wonder the Pies dominated proceedings in every aspect.
His two goal assists were vintage Daicos: the first, just before half time with the Bombers mounting their charge, he received at half-forward, and where some would have blazed long to the hot spot and hoped, he crafted a lovely 20-metre pass to a free Ned Long amid a swathe of Bombers.
It’s a high-risk kick, and if it’s missed the Dons are in great shape for a turnover; yet Daicos is so exquisitely skilled, and knows it, that there’s never the slightest hesitation in going for it. Naturally, it’s nailed – and it’s one of the things we take for granted from him because he’s been doing it since he debuted.
The second showcases just how damaging he can be with Sidebottom, Long and co. doing much of the inside grunt work these days: hovering in front of the stoppage, the Pies desperately knock the ball forward and into his path, leaving him capable of gathering cleanly on the run, getting to 50, and rather than shooting for home, kicking perfectly to the advantage of Jordan De Goey, one out in the goalsquare, to extend the lead to 17 points.
None of this is to discredit Sidebottom, or to suggest his game was anything other than exceptional. I fully expect him to receive 10, or at the very least nine, Coaches Association votes when they come out in a few days’ time, because he did well the sort of things that coaches tend to love.
But the idea that Nick Daicos wasn’t at the very least his equal, and almost certainly his superior, in winning the game for the Magpies wasn’t adequately presented in missing the cut entirely for the Anzac Medal.
As bizarre as it is given how much the eyes of the footy world have lingered on him since the start of 2022, when he began the most extraordinary start to a career we’ve seen in a generation, we might be getting to the point where Daicos, thanks to his own brilliance, begins to get overlooked.
I suppose he’ll just have to console himself with an Anzac Day win as captain to compensate.
