Credit: <\/span>AFL Photos<\/cite><\/p>\nSo, it can be done effectively, which is something Brisbane Lions coach Chis Fagan will bear in mind, but it\u2019s doubtful Fagan will do it. The Lions tend not to use a heavy tag as Hawks coach Sam Mitchell did with Maginness.<\/p>\n
The Lions\u2019 Josh Dunkley nullified Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps in the preliminary final, but that was more of a head-to-head pairing of the players in which Dunkley came out the better rather than a truly negative defensive role on Cripps. It is more likely the Lions would put Dunkley head to head with a more natural fit for the big-bodied Jordan De Goey \u2013 a creative player who was the best on ground in the preliminary final \u2013 than Daicos.<\/p>\n
That is not to say Fagan would not send a player to play tightly on Daicos should the Magpie playmaker be damaging. Fagan has seen that Daicos can be beaten by a single-focused defensive midfielder, and if you can take out the opposition\u2019s most threatening midfielder, why wouldn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n
\u201cAll taggers don\u2019t really want the ball,\u201d Collingwood veteran and former skipper Scott Pendlebury said, noting that the tagger\u2019s first and primary job was to stop the player, and getting the ball was a bonus.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt Sam Mitchell worked with Finn on tagging because Sam would have been tagged the hardest of all their midfield when he played.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pendlebury, who has been tagged periodically \u2013 and unsuccessfully \u2013 through his 382 games, has a simple philosophy to beating the tag.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy theory on that has always been you are a good player for a reason, you will take them to the ball, so you have to keep working and working through it. Ryan Crowley, Clint Jones, those [kinds of] guys, they didn\u2019t care if they didn\u2019t touch it as long as you didn\u2019t touch it. Then guys like Kane Cornes would try and split and run behind the ball to get a few possessions and get in your head that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best guys are the ones who, when the ball is around, try and nullify and take you out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like that Hawthorn game was the first time Nick has been tagged \u2013 that was the first time he\u2019d been tagged and beaten.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes down to work rate and the role, so you stick to that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learnt a lot of it from Swanny [Dane Swan]. You play in the middle and you mightn\u2019t have 35 possessions that game, but you might have 22 really good ones. [Beating them] never happens in the first quarter because they are as fit, as strong, so you rely on your footy IQ, your smarts and hopefully over four quarters you wear them down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like that Hawthorn game was the first time Nick has been tagged \u2013 that was the first time he\u2019d been tagged and beaten.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Port Adelaide had a go at it, Lachie Jones was beaten by Nick, but Willem Drew did OK on him, but Nick still had 24 and kicked a really good goal in the last quarter that game.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$width_584\/t_resize_width\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/6a2e6f67b68f86badb39cc4f552075192122ff38\")
<\/p>\n
Collingwood\u2019s Josh and Nick Daicos flank their dad – club great, Peter – ahead of a big grand final week.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Luis Ascui<\/cite><\/p>\n\u201cThat\u2019s just Nick\u2019s lot for a long time when he is tagged, just working through it and being smarter. Even [in] the Hawthorn game, until he hurt his knee, Nick went forward took a good mark [so] it might be going forward and kicking two or three goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cNick\u2019s got that ability. If you are down there with him, it\u2019s a whole new ball game because he is so quick, smart, [and has] endurance. If you are a tagger, do you want to be sitting there [with Daicos forward and one-out]?\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.151%2C$multiply_0.7487%2C$ratio_0.666667%2C$width_378%2C$x_14%2C$y_0\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/09d7eaf4e09c80e3414341dfdcb865c40f91c40a\")
<\/p>\n
Peter Daicos was a brilliant centreman before switching to become a permanent forward.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\nPeter Daicos thinks the answer, whether the tag comes on grand final day or returns next year when clubs take a leaf from the Hawthorn book on stopping his son, is to take the tagger where he doesn\u2019t want to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, you take them to the goal square and that is where they will panic. That is what I would be doing with a tag, especially one like Maginness. And Nick did go forward and kick a goal [and] then hurt his leg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter was tagged as a player when he played in the centre early in his Collingwood career, before becoming a permanent forward later on. He understands how to beat the tag, and he also understands his son\u2019s game \u2013 both of his sons\u2019 games \u2013 better than anyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeating the tag, at the end of the day, is just getting to as many contests [as possible], [getting] support from your teammates as well, [and] a bit of blocking and shielding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if the Lions will tag him [Nick]. They got there because of their attacking-type style and they are going onto a bigger ground, they are saying it\u2019s going to be 28 degrees and they [the Lions\u2019 midfielders] are big bodies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey like the smaller grounds to be able to run over you \u2013 they are tractors, they like the physicality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of Nick\u2019s game, and one of his strengths, is he is following up the ball all the time, so you give it and you go again, and go again, and if you have got the ability and stamina, and the tank, that is what you need to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the same now as it was 40 years ago \u2013 still the easiest way to get a kick is to run.\u201d<\/p>\n
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