Collingwood tweak best and fairest voting after Nick Daicos controversy

Collingwood have changed their best and fairest voting system in the wake of the controversial Copeland Trophy count that saw superstar Nick Daicos finish runner-up to Darcy Cameron in 2025.

Magpies coach Craig McRae courted controversy last year when he joked at Collingwood’s best and fairest night that Daicos, who finished second in the Brownlow Medal behind Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell, needed “a few more 16-disposal games” to win it next time.

The cheeky jab was in reference to Rowell, who got three votes for games in which he had 17 and 16 disposals and was clearly well below his best. Rowell went on to win the game’s highest honour with 39 votes, seven clear of Daicos on 32.

McRae’s comments at the Copeland Trophy backfired on him just hours later though when the Magpie maestro didn’t even win his own club best and fairest, finishing 13 votes behind Cameron.

Speaking after Daicos’s 41-disposal, best-on-ground effort in Collingwood’s 12-point win over St Kilda on Sunday night, McRae said last year’s result has forced a restructure of the whole voting system.

“We changed the system, we did,” he laughed.

“The system was needing to be changed to reward the extreme games. He had an extreme game tonight, didn’t he? Fourty-odd touches.

“I think Nick’s just maturing so much in front of our eyes. He trains harder than anyone else. Same with Josh (Daicos), like Josh had an amazing game.

“We want to have a gameplan that brings the best out in our players, and Josh and Nick are certainly players that we just want to give the ball to.”

Daicos was dominant as St Kilda coach Ross Lyon allowed him to run around largely unchecked, barring a brief period when Hugo Garcia tried to put the clamps on him.

“Should we attack Daicos? We try and display a bit more system,” Lyon said after the game.

“Maybe, yeah, in hindsight - he had 41. But momentum, it’s interesting - we did send someone to him for a little bit.

“I don’t think that’s why, whether it be Nas or Daicos, why they got the points and we didn’t.

“I thought it was more the overall letting them off ... we were inefficient. They took their chances and we didn’t it.”

In the other coaches’ box, McRae and his team had a clear plan for Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, who was restricted to just 19 touches and a goal.

The AFL’s first player on a $2 million-a-year contract was subjected to the tight attention of Harry Perryman.

“Obviously, Nas had more of a go-with, a lockdown,” Lyon said.

“I thought he started game really well, he jumped into the game really well ... and then I thought Nas worked through it.

“Nas didn’t have his best night but he never gave up and kept working.

“And, you know, he’s got to work through that phase.”

Wanganeen-Milera will likely confront taggers in most games this season, though Collingwood coach Craig McRae wasn’t taking the credit for putting Perryman on the brilliant Saint.

“The leadership group really pushed it - I’m not taking ownership for that,” McRae said.

“The leaders really wanted to set a bit of a target and go after him.

“I went to Pez, and I won’t share exactly what he said, but he was pretty excited about doing the job.”

But McRae said Perryman couldn’t have succeeded without help from his teammates.

“What maybe you do or don’t understand in our game is, if you tag, it becomes a whole system that your whole team needs to be involved in,” he said.

“Because he (Wanganeen-Milera) played forward, he played back, he played mid - and so you need to evolve.

“We wanted Pez to go all the way but that’s chemistry ... and all those layers, and I’m proud of the group to support Pez in getting that job done.

“He (Wanganeen-Milera) is an outstanding player, that young man.

“And I don’t think we will be the first or the last to tag him.”

- With AAP