{"id":900759,"date":"2026-09-22T01:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900759\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T01:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T01:58:25","slug":"afl-news-2026-nick-daicos-wins-brownlow-medal-nike-ad-and-sponsorship-nick-kyrgios-failed-2014-prophecy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900759\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026, Nick Daicos wins Brownlow Medal, Nike ad and sponsorship, Nick Kyrgios failed 2014 prophecy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nike<\/a>\u2019s bold play for Nick Daicos<\/a> has put the Magpies<\/a> star in the upper echelon of the sport\u2019s biggest names after he finally landed a Brownlow Medal<\/a>. <\/p>\n

On the morning of the Brownlow Medal<\/a> on Monday, Nike took out a half-page ad on the front of Herald Sun that just had the iconic tick with the word \u201cinevitable\u201d and a picture of Daicos. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Punt Road Silos with Nike and Nick Daicos branding. \u00a0Getty Images for Nike<\/p>\n

The back page also had a blacked out photo with the words gravity, wrinkles, Mondays, the sun rising, the sun setting, traffic on Punt Rd and Nick Daicos. It then followed with \u201cinevitable\u2019 and the iconic Nike tick. <\/p>\n

With Daicos having been the medal favourite twice before, and losing, it was a brave strategy from the company. The implication is it was inevitable Daicos would take home the coveted medal known as \u201cCharlie\u201d one day.<\/p>\n

Once Daicos\u2019 win was confirmed with a record tally of votes, the silos on Punt Road featured a big photo of the Pies star with the tick and \u201cinevitable\u201d featuring again. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did hear briefly about this, I\u2019m obviously partners with Nike and they wanted to make me feel really special if I got up here,\u201d he said on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really privileged.\u201d <\/p>\n

The opportunities for Daicos are now tenfold and Nike will be integral to shaping his legacy. <\/p>\n

The corporation has turned many athletes into their own brand. <\/p>\n

Basketball icons Michael Jordan and LeBron James spring to mind, along with the likes of Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods and Kevin Durant. To Nike and the rest of the world, they\u2019re known as Jordan, LeBron, Serena, Ronaldo, Tiger and KD.<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland is fast becoming the biggest name in world sport, too, while Naomi Osaka has set a new standard with her walkouts to matches in Nike kits. <\/p>\n

Daicos could become the \u201cNick\u201d that Nike wanted Nick Kyrgios to be. <\/p>\n

While Daicos doesn\u2019t have the global reach of Kyrgios – given Aussie rules is really only prominent in one country – his star power is entrenched in Australia. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios, 19, after beating world No.1 Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2014.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

In 2014, Kyrgios was on the radar of Nike\u2019s co-founder Phil Knight who – as The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> reported – arranged for a private jet to fly him to Oregon for a tour of the company\u2019s headquarters. <\/p>\n

It happened after the up-and-coming Aussie firebrand\u2019s famous Wimbledon victory against Rafael Nadal. <\/p>\n

Nike wanted Kyrgios to be the next face of the company. Unfortunately, we know it didn\u2019t work out like that. <\/p>\n

But the brand\u2019s support for Daicos is clear and at 23 years old, the possibilities are endless. <\/p>\n

Throw NRL superstars Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh into that Nike-sponsored mix, and it\u2019s a world we may not have seen reach its potential yet in Aussie sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nike\u2019s bold play for Nick Daicos has put the Magpies star in the upper echelon of the sport\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-900759","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\/900759","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=900759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}