Collingwood star Nick Daicos all clear for Kangaroos test

Coach Craig McRae has confirmed Nick Daicos will play in Collingwood’s AFL match against North Melbourne, brushing off concerns over his star man’s corked shin.

Daicos has had a light week of work since sustaining a knock to his lower right leg during the Magpies’ convincing win over Melbourne on Monday.

But the Brownlow Medal fancy passed a fitness test at Friday’s training session, running at full pace and taking part in football drills with teammates.

He has been given the green light to take on the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

“He’s good to go. He’ll play,” McRae told reporters after the training session.

“We played Monday, so we didn’t do anything on Wednesday with him.

“Today was an opportunity to get out and move. He went really well and he’ll be right to play.”

North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson is understandably wary of Daicos, who was in a rich vein of form until last round.

The 21-year-old matchwinner was held to a season-low 15 disposals by Melbourne’s Alex Neal-Bullen before being substituted out for the final quarter.

Daicos sits second in Brownlow Medal betting behind Sydney’s Isaac Heeney.

“He’s a high-quality player and his last five weeks outside of last week ... have just been superb,” Clarkson said.

“We need to watch him but if we throw a tag on him it’s probably going to throw out some of the things we want to do ourselves.”

Collingwood premiership defender Oleg Markov is in a “race to the line” for Sunday’s game because of a jarred back, with McRae putting first-year speedster Tew Jiath on stand-by.

Jiath, younger brother of Hawthorn’s Changkuoth Jiath, is among the Magpies’ emergencies and has a chance to debut after being taken with pick 37 at last year’s draft.

“I just love the way that he expresses himself on the footy field,” McRae said of the dashing 19-year-old.

“He goes for his marks, much like his brother from Hawthorn, and he’s a serious talent.

“He’s going to be a really nice player for us.”

North Melbourne have been buoyed by last week’s breakthrough win over West Coast, and defender Charlie Comben boldly declared Collingwood “really, really gettable” in a radio interview ahead of Sunday’s clash.

The Magpies are battling a long list of injuries, in particular through the midfield and forward-line, with premiership stars Jamie Elliott, Jordan De Goey, Scott Pendlebury, Tom Mitchell, Brody Mihocek and Mason Cox among those sidelined.

Sunday’s contest pits McRae against Clarkson for the first time, after the Pies boss worked as an assistant to his Roos counterpart for one season at Hawthorn in 2021.

“I don’t think any game’s an easy win. We respect our opposition enormously,” McRae said.

“I worked with Clarko for 12 months and he’s an incredible coach.

“I know what sort of fire he has in the belly for these sorts of games and I’m sure they’ll take a lot of things away from us - as we’ll try to do to them.”