Star\u2019s stunning feat amid Giant shock; lowly duo\u2019s quiet night<\/a><\/p>\nNick Daicos reflected on his early love for Carlton.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
A self-declared \u201coverthinker\u201d, Daicos gave an insight into how he\u2019s progressively dealt with the external pressure of being an AFL superstar. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn school, everyone goes through those stages where you might get an AFL article (written about you), or there might be talk about (where) you might go in the draft, or just even being spoken about,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd at the time, you\u2019re thinking \u2018how good\u2019s this?\u2019, it\u2019s your first time being spoken about, and it\u2019s awesome. And then pretty quickly, it did get a little bit overwhelming \u2014 playing for Collingwood and having dad play, Josh play, and being in the spotlight all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s probably something that I feel like I\u2019ve pushed away as the years have gone on and shied away from, and \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say struggled with, but I\u2019ve definitely battled with it at times, and deleted social media. <\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to stay off that stuff and just give myself a little break where I can, but at the same time, I\u2019m so bloody privileged to be in the position I\u2019m in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daicos said that \u201cat times\u201d not being able to be anonymous is hard, but he maintained that he doesn\u2019t take for granted the platform he has. <\/p>\n
As he explained on Monday night, that platform has allowed him to cultivate a relationship with an eight-year-old boy, Logan, who\u2019s battling cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a youngster, Logan, who\u2019s staying awake at the moment \u2026 (I\u2019ve) worked closely with him this year, and I think that just shows the platform we can have, and impacting people like that,\u201d Daicos said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe send videos back and forth throughout the week, and we\u2019re only able to do that and put a smile on his face because we\u2019re playing. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut then, at the same time, I think he\u2019s probably taught me more than I\u2019ve taught him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a heartwarming moment at the podium, Daicos dedicated his first signature as a Brownlow medallist to Logan. <\/p>\n
‘Treated me like a Covid patient’ | 00:23<\/p>\n
Daicos was a self-proclaimed footy \u201cnuffy\u201d growing up, attending whichever games were in Melbourne on any given weekend as a young child. <\/p>\n
It was that route of conversation that led to the Collingwood champion explaining his sacrilegious early love for arch-rivals Carlton. <\/p>\n
It was especially jarring for his father, Peter, a Magpies legend. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think we were going to go there this early,\u201d Daicos smirked when asked how his Blues infatuation came about. <\/p>\n
\u201cI loved Chris Judd growing up \u2026 I did love Marc Murphy and Chris Judd growing up, so I came home one day with a number three on my back and a Carlton jersey, and started walking around the house singing \u2018da da da da da\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not kidding, Dad was treating me like a COVID patient. Like, I was like I was eight years old, I wasn\u2019t getting fed. I had to, like, isolate. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a brutal time, so I had to come back to Collingwood.\u201d<\/p>\n
And speaking of funny anecdotes, Daicos recalled a more recent story of when he and Collingwood teammate Billy Frampton were on PlayStation sledging someone they initially thought was an Essendon fan, but actually turned out to be Bombers player Mason Redman. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is true; it was 2023, I hurt my knee and had a bit of time off, and the boys got the job done against the Bombers the night before and big Billy Frampton \u2026 was online with me,\u201d Daicos explained. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we were sort of getting stuck into this opposition player, and one way or another \u2014 I think my name was \u2018Whisp\u2019 at the time or something \u2014 and we got talking, and pretty quickly worked out it was Mason Redman. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, yeah, we stopped talking rubbish online, because you can get caught.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mark & goal of the year announced! | 00:37<\/p>\n
To close his acceptance speech, Daicos gave some special thank-yous. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to start with my partner Arlette,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so grateful to have you in my corner \u2026 our bond, we\u2019re so close, and I think you offer me such great perspective with what you do with work every single day \u2026 you make me realise what really matters in the world. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have a tough day and pretty quickly come home, and I\u2019m quite levelled out, because what you do, you have such a great impact, and I\u2019m so lucky to have you in my corner, so thank you. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then my family; my mum and dad, who are in here tonight, I can\u2019t wait to share this night with you. I\u2019m not here without you, and I\u2019m so grateful for all your support. <\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like playing at Collingwood and being a father-son, there\u2019s probably been extra spotlight on me at times, and I know it\u2019s not easy with some scrutiny, and then also the other way, when there\u2019s really nice feedback \u2014 we don\u2019t deal too well in the spotlight, and I\u2019m so grateful for everything you guys have done for me. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister and Josh \u2014 I\u2019ll put you together. Josh, I couldn\u2019t have asked for a better role model since I\u2019ve entered the club, mate. You\u2019re my brother, one of my best mates, but yeah, I love coming into work every day and getting better with you, mate. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then also to Fly and the Collingwood Football Club for picking me up \u2014 it\u2019s been a hell of a ride, it\u2019s been a really exciting five years, and I feel like we\u2019re in the window to attack again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He entered as the unbackable favourite, and Nick Daicos is officially a Brownlow Medallist after dominating Monday night\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-900489","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\/900489","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=900489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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