Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
There has long been a sense of inevitability around Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos winning a Brownlow Medal before his decorated career is over.
The little champion’s ascension to AFL greatness, it seems, is almost here.
Daicos is a near-unbackable favourite – the shortest in history at $1.01 with many bookmakers – to add the game’s most coveted individual award to his rapidly expanding list of accolades.
The 23-year-old is tipped to be a runaway winner, and projected to surpass Patrick Cripps’ record winning tally of 45 votes.
The record, and whether Daicos can crack 50 votes, might be the most intriguing aspect of the count at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium ballroom on Monday night.
The near-certain result follows Daicos’ runner-up finishes in the past two seasons; a third placing in 2023; and an eighth place in his debut season of 2022.
“He arguably should be a three-time Brownlow medallist,” Magpies teammate Lachie Schultz told AAP.
“Definitely this year – I think we’ll riot if he doesn’t get it this year. It’s very due and it’s very deserved.”
It is the fourth consecutive year that Daicos heads to the Brownlow count as the favourite.
The brilliant playmaker was edged out by Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell last year and record-breaker Cripps the year before.
Western Bulldogs champion Marcus Bontempelli and Geelong midfielder Bailey Smith are seen as Dacios’ nearest rivals, if you can call them that.
Bontempelli, already a two-time runner-up, is about a $51 chance in betting markets and Smith around $67, with Cripps ($81) and Brisbane’s Will Ashcroft ($101) next in line at extremely long odds.
Isaac Heeney ($201) is considered the best chance of the Sydney players who were suspended in the fallout from the Pullman Hotel scandal, but almost certainly won’t embarrass the AFL further by winning the award.
The Swans’ banned five were not invited to the medal count.
Daicos has already snared the AFL Players Association and AFL Coaches Association player-of-the-year awards this season – both for the second time.
Teammates are in awe of Daicos, who relished greater responsibility as Collingwood’s stand-in captain at stages this season and is destined to take over the role full-time.
“He’s a student of the game, like a mini-Scott Pendlebury, really. He knows what to do and what’s best for the team in the moment,” Magpies ruckman Darcy Cameron told AAP.
“His leadership has gone to a whole new level, especially with Darcy Moore, Brayden Maynard and all these leaders out (injured).
“He’s really just demanding so much of everyone, and performing as well. That’s the main thing you need to be doing as a leader and that’s what he does.”
For all the accolades coming Daicos’ way, Cameron believes the Magpies’ No.35 is still under-appreciated by the outside world.
“I think so. It’s what he does with ball in hand and being able to get in and out of tight situations and make it look effortless (that make him special),” Cameron said.
“And his high-speed efforts when he doesn’t have the ball are ridiculous.
“He works back so hard and then gets forward – it’s unbelievable how he just doesn’t fatigue. He’s a serious weapon.”
