‘Second born’ Nick Daicos is judged to a different standard than others

Collingwood star Nick Daicos found himself in familiar territory as the bridesmaid and not the bride after winning 38 touches for Victoria on Saturday night.

He was overlooked for the E.J. Whitten Medal when Lachie Ash earned the coaches’ nod for his meritorious performance in Victoria’s win over Western Australia.

It added to the brief of evidence being compiled to suggest Daicos is judged more harshly than others when it comes to individual awards.

Last season he was runner-up in Collingwood’s best and fairest and the Brownlow Medal, as he earned All-Australian selection for the third consecutive time. Somehow, he was named on the bench in that team.

Even with the Bulldogs’ Marcus Bontempelli and the Suns’ Matt Rowell for company on the pine, it was difficult to understand.

Ruckman Darcy Cameron pipped him in the 2025 Copeland Trophy and Rowell finished seven votes ahead of Daicos in the 2025 Brownlow Medal, the second consecutive year the Magpie has been runner-up in the league’s prestigious individual award.

The Jerry West-type finishes are piling up for the second born Daicos.

Such was the reaction to the best and fairest result, Collingwood coach Craig McRae mused that the club’s voting system might need to be changed. That would be a voting reform campaign Magpie fans would follow.

In the aftermath of the Brownlow Medal, AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon wondered whether the placegetters should be recognised along with the winner as if to appease upset Magpie fans.

Good luck doing that.

Coaching panel votes are generally regarded highly so the coaches’ (Chris Scott, Sam Mitchell and Garry Lyon) decision to award Ash the medal would have likely carried nuances not obvious to most football fans.

The Giants’ Ash stood up when Victoria needed him after they went a tall down when Jacob Weitering was carted off the ground in the first quarter. Despite a reshuffle, he had nine intercept possessions and his dashing run when the game was on the line late, shifted momentum back the big Vs way. Without his performance, who would they have turned to? Scott said when the game was hot, Ash burnt brightest.

The 23-year-old Daicos featured prominently in the E.J. Whitten Medal discussion along with Zak Butters and Bontempelli after his 38 disposals included seven clearances and 13 score involvements. He also laid a game-high five tackles. He was both committed and brilliant.

They had to make a call right after a tense contest and made it.

Given all individual awards in the AFL, bar the Coleman Medal, are based on opinion, it’s generally about as useful to enter into correspondence about such decisions as it would be for Canada to complain about Cooper Woods being awarded the gold medal in moguls ahead of Mikaël Kingsbury.

Having voted on awards before, I know it is never a fun job.

But the decision does again raise the question to whether Daicos is held to higher standards than other players whenever voting happens because of the extraordinary standard he has set in just 95 AFL matches.

Collingwood definitely marked him too hard last season. Daicos polled 87 coaches votes compared to Cameron’s 42 yet was beaten to the line in the best and fairest.

There was a feeling at times he followed the beat of his own drum on-field which may have cost him, but he’s still the most valuable Magpie by a long way. His second placing was akin to Jeremy Howe not winning the mark of the year in 2017.

Umpires see most things differently to many but their voting patterns add weight to the argument they judge Daicos differently to his peers.

His efforts still claim recognition, with three placings in the Brownlow Medal.

Hardly ignored, he polled 32 votes last season and 38 in 2024 but found one opponent better each time. His 38 votes in 2024 would have won every medal awarded before that season but Carlton’s Patrick Cripps somehow polled 45 votes.

If the raw measure of disposals is used to judge performance, Daicos finds it harder to poll out of turn than the previous two winners.

Daicos did not poll a vote in 11 matches during 2024 and 2025 after winning 30 touches or more in the match. Only once did Cripps have 30 touches and not receive three votes in 2024. Rowell did that on four occasions in 2025, the same as Daicos that season.

It’s tough to argue Daicos did not use his touches as well as those two great players. Sometimes he must feel like Greg Williams.

The one time Cripps collected fewer than 20 disposals in 2024, he polled two Brownlow votes. In 2025, Matt Rowell managed two best on grounds and one Brownlow vote for matches in which he tackled like a rugby league player, but won fewer than 20 touches.

Daicos has managed one vote in the six matches in his career he has won fewer than 20 disposals.

Cripps has polled three votes every time he has reached 40 touches or more. The umpires awarded him three votes in six of the nine matches he had at least 40 disposals.

Of course, disposals are a rough measure but the quality of Daicos’ play is such that he can shift the course of play with his touches in ways that only the game’s best players can.

And Ash has earned his moment in the sun as he is an emerging star who will be more widely recognised as such after his performance in State of Origin.

As Daicos closes in on 100 games with only Bontempelli vying with him for the title of the game’s best player (Sam Darcy might join them this season), it seems inconceivable that the Magpie has won just one best and fairest in his four seasons, alongside a coaches award, a Players’ Association MVP and a Rising Star award.

Lately, others appear to be finding one better than Daicos. In doing so, they are missing what is in front of them.

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