Collingwood star Nick Daicos is well on the way to putting together the most imperious first 100 games this century. It is arguably among the best starts to a career in the AFL-era, and only the unreliability of memory and difficulty in comparing one period to another should prevent Daicos from being ranked alongside the most immediately impactful players of all time. But there might already be a challenger to Daicos’s crown as Brisbane midfielder Will Ashcroft begins to stake a claim to being the best young footballer of this generation.
With his sidesteps and swerves and arched lower back, Daicos is almost impossible to tackle once on the move. He rarely loses his feet and is tougher at the contest than opposition supporters might care to admit. Since moving into the midfield, his clean hands and poise in possession have changed the way the Pies play.
