Nicholas Daicos (born 3 January 2003) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player who plays for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...

. Daicos is the son of Peter Daicos, who played for Collingwood in the VFL/AFL, and the younger brother of

Josh Daicos Josh Daicos (born 26 November 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Son of Peter Daicos, who played for Collingwood in the VFL/AFL, he played for t ...

, who also plays for Collingwood. Daicos was drafted with pick 4 in the

2021 AFL draft The 2021 AFL draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) could trade and recruit players during and following the completion of the 2021 AFL season. The National Draft returned to being a t ...

under the

father–son rule The father–son rule is a rule that allows clubs preferential recruiting access to the sons of players who have made a major past contribution to the club in Australian rules football, most notably in the Australian Football League. The rule ...

Early life and junior football

Daicos captained the

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the Talent League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the ...

in the 2021

NAB League The Talent League (also known as the Coates Hire, Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the National Australia Bank, NAB League and Transport Accident Commission, TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representa ...

. He impressed across five matches, averaging 35.8 disposals and 2 goals per game. Noted for his consistency and clean skills, Daicos was tipped for a high pick in the 2021 AFL draft. In 2019, he was part of a school football premiership for Carey Grammar, alongside future AFL stars Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson. In his younger years, he played community football for Greythorn Falcons and Kew Rovers in the

Yarra Junior Football League The Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) is the largest junior Australian rules football competition in Australia. The league has a total of 30 clubs, who are based around northern, eastern and north-eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne. There is ...

AFL career

2022

In 2021, Daicos was drafted to the Collingwood Football Club as a father–son pick, following in the footsteps of his father, Peter Daicos, who played for the club from 1979 to 1993. He chose to wear 35 as his guernsey number, the same number worn by his father. Daicos was the subject of widespread media attention prior to his drafting, due to his potential to provide a much-needed contribution to a Collingwood side that finished second-last in the ladder in the 2021 Season. Daicos made his AFL debut in Round 1 of the 2022 AFL season. In the win against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium, he produced an impressive 27 disposals, 10 contested possessions, and 5 marks. Over the subsequent rounds, Daicos continued to impress as a rookie. In Round 3 against

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

, Daicos earned a Rising Star nomination after collecting 26 disposals and kicking his first goal at the AFL level. A Round 18 win against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

saw Daicos earn a season-high 40 disposals, while also kicking 3 goals. In the 2022 AFL Finals, Daicos played in his first finals series, where he continued his impressive performances with an average of 24 disposals across three games until the Magpies' season was ended by the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

in a 94–95 defeat at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

during the Preliminary Final. Throughout the 2022 season, Daicos’s performance was considered one of the most impactful and talented rookie seasons of all time, averaging 25.7 disposals per game while primarily playing in the half-back position. For his outstanding performance, he was awarded the Rising Star award given to the AFL’s best young player. Daicos received an all-time record 60 votes for the award, surpassing Sam Walsh’s previous record of 54 in 2019, and finishing above Geelong’s runner-up Sam De Koning (48 votes) and fellow Magpie Jack Ginnivan (21 votes) for the 2022 season.

2023

Daicos began his second professional season with 35 disposals and 7 marks in a Round 1 win against

. In Round 6, during the annual Anzac Day Clash between the Collingwood and

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

football clubs, Daicos was awarded the Anzac Medal for his best-on-ground performance where he produced 40 disposals, six marks, and two goals in the Magpies' comeback victory against the Bombers. After the bye rounds, Daicos slowly shifted to playing an on-ball role, flagging this with a best-on-ground performance against the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

in round 16, with 36 disposals, 10 tackles and seven clearances. Showing promising signs as an on-baller, he signed a lucrative 4-year extension to his contract alongside his brother

until the end of 2029 (and Josh until the end of 2030). In Collingwood's Round 21 clash against Hawthorn, Daicos was tagged by Hawks midfielder

Finn Maginness Finn Maginness (born 23 February 2001) is an Australian rules footballer who plays for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Finn is a 3rd generation Hawk as his father and grandfather played football with the club ...

and was kept to a career-low 5 disposals. During the same game, he was subjected to a bump from Hawks defender James Blanck which caused a hairline fracture in the lateral tibial plateau of the right knee joint, ruling him out for the rest of the home-and-away season, and for Collingwood's first final. At the end of season awards, Daicos was awarded with the AFLCA's Best Young Player award for 2023 with 129 votes. He also achieved 3rd in the 2023 AFLCA's Champion Player of the Year award, trailing winner Zak Butters by 10 votes. He was also named as the starting Rover in the 2023 All-Australian team. In the 2023 Brownlow Medal awards night, Daicos came 3rd with 28 votes (the most of any second-year player in the AFL era), narrowly behind winner

Lachie Neale Lachlan Oliver Neale (born 24 May 1993) is an Australian rules footballer and the co-captain of the Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Fremantle Football Club from 2012 to 2018 before being tra ...

, who polled 31 votes, and

Marcus Bontempelli Marcus Bontempelli (born 24 November 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as Western Bulldogs captain since the 2020 season, and was previo ...

, who polled 29 votes. In the 2023 AFL Grand Final, Daicos claimed his first premiership medal in an impressive performance, polling 4 votes and finishing 3rd in the

Norm Smith Medal The Norm Smith Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best on ground in the grand final of the Australian Football League (AFL). Prior to 1990, the competition was known as the Victorian Footbal ...

2024

In Round 8 of the 2024 season, Daicos kicked the winning goal of Collingwood's match against Carlton. He finished the match with 32 disposals and 2 goals, for which he was awarded the Richard Pratt Medal. In Round 12, against the Western Bulldogs, Daicos accumulated 27 contested possessions and 16 clearances, breaking the club record in both statistical categories. In the same match, he became the fastest player, by matches played, to record 30 disposals in a match against all 17 other clubs. Daicos placed second in the 2024 Brownlow Medal count, polling 38 votes. Both he and the Brownlow winner, Patrick Cripps, broke the record for the most votes ever received under the 3-2-1 voting system.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of round 5, 2025''. , - ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , , , 35 , 25 , , 7 , , 7 , , 361 , , 283 , , 644 , , 102 , , 54 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 14.4 , , 11.3 , , 25.8 , , 4.1 , , 2.2 , , 11 , - , bgcolor=F0E68C ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , , , 35 , 23 , , 20 , , 14 , , 381 , , 324 , , 705 , , 68 , , 87 , , 0.9 , , 0.6 , , 16.6 , , 14.1 , , 30.7 , , 3.0 , , 3.8 , , 38 , - ,

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, , , , 35 , 12 , , 6 , , 9 , , 184 , , 176 , , 360 , , 48 , , 49 , , 0.5 , , 0.8 , , 15.3 , , 14.7 , , 30.0 , , 4.0 , , 4.1 , , , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 82 !! 52 !! 43 !! 1283 !! 1108 !! 2391 !! 289 !! 274 !! 0.6 !! 0.5 !! 15.7 !! 13.5 !! 29.2 !! 3.5 !! 3.3 !! 77

Honours and achievements

Team

* AFL premiership player:

( Collingwood) * AFL minor premiership:

( Collingwood)

Individual

AFL Rising Star Award The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 AFL Rising Star, 1993 season, and ...

: 2022 * AFLPA Best First Year Player Award: 2022 * 22under22 team: 2022, 2023 * AFL Rising Star nominee: 2022 (round 3) * Anzac Medal: 2023 * Bob Rose–Charlie Sutton Medal: 2023 * AFLCA Best Young Player: 2023 *

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

: 2023 * Collingwood co-vice captain: 2025

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daicos, Nick 2003 births Living people Australian people of Macedonian descent Collingwood Football Club players Oakleigh Chargers players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) People educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School VFL/AFL premiership players All-Australians (AFL) People educated at Camberwell Grammar School People from the City of Boroondara 21st-century Australian sportsmen AFL Rising Star winners