{"id":417391,"date":"2026-01-16T18:05:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417391\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T18:05:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T18:05:28","slug":"track-watch-daicos-dominant-in-return-to-main-group-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/417391\/","title":{"rendered":"Track Watch: Daicos dominant in return to main group – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s good news out of Olympic Park, with superstar Nick Daicos<\/a> rejoining the main group on Friday morning after beginning the 2026 pre-season on a modified program.<\/p>\n

It’s a significant step for the midfielder, as the club had prioritised a cautious recovery from his September health setbacks, with Daicos looking in peak form ahead of his expected star role in the upcoming AFL Origin<\/a> match.<\/p>\n

However, Magpies fans held their breath as the midfielder briefly left the field with what looked to be a leg concern early in the session, though he eventually returned and participated in the club’s short but intense match simulation.<\/p>\n

Daicos was dominant in the sim, while also being a standout ball user in the main group’s activities, looking the freshest of the Magpies afield.<\/p>\n

He was crafty by hand in the middle and launched a dead-eye cross-field torpedo inside 50 to set up a set shot and goal for the team in white guernseys.<\/p>\n

In rehab was key forward Daniel McStay<\/a>, already returning to the track following his hamstring injury on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Similarly, captain Darcy Moore<\/a> resumed light duties after missing Wednesday’s session with a calf strain.<\/p>\n

While McStay and Moore spent the entirety of the session away from the main Magpies collective, settled in the injured group of Isaac Quaynor<\/a> (hamstring) and Beau McCreery<\/a> (foot), the quartet completed skills and mobility duties, as well as some drills focusing on explosiveness, which did not present much discomfort to both key position players.<\/p>\n

\"CollingwoodMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 20: Daniel McStay of the Magpies in action during a Collingwood Magpies AFL training session at Olympic Park Oval on September 20, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

However, Jeremy Howe<\/a>, who also suffered a calf complaint on Monday with Darcy Moore<\/a>, was not seen.<\/p>\n

Josh Daicos<\/a> spent time away from the main group completing an individual running program, as did Reef McInnes<\/a> for an extended period of time, with McInnes’ running stints notably more intense as he ramps up his fitness ahead of pre-season.<\/p>\n

Former Demon and Magpies VFL player Taj Woewodin<\/a>, was a key inclusion to the main training session, with the 21-game Dee meeting the standards set by the AFL<\/a> group and hardly looking a step behind the pace.<\/p>\n

Collingwood will take on North Melbourne on Sunday, March 1 at Mars Stadium as part of the pre-season Community Series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There’s good news out of Olympic Park, with superstar Nick Daicos rejoining the main group on Friday morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-417391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}