Star good to go but another injury rocks Pies

Nick Daicos has been cleared to take on North Melbourne on Sunday after being subbed out of Monday’s clash with Melbourne due to a shin injury with the reigning premiers set to unveil a sixth debutante when Tew Jiath plays his first game.

Dacios trained fully on Friday and coach Craig McRae said he was “good to go” having been eased through the early part of the week.

“There is a lot of media down here to see if Nick was going to get through training. He is good to go,” McRae confirmed on Friday.

“We played Monday so we didn’t do anything with him on Wednesday. Today was an opportunity for him to get out there and move. He moved pretty well so he will be right for Sunday.”

But premiership defender Oleg Markov, who didn’t train on Friday despite being named in the 26-man squad on Thursday night, is in doubt after jarring his back, which has opened the door for draftee Jiath to make his debut.

The brother of Hawthorn’s Changkuoth, Jiath was taken with pick 37 in last November’s AFL Draft and McRae said he’d been excited by how the defender “expressed himself”.

He’ll become the sixth player to debut for the Magpies this year after Charlie Dean, Lachie Sullivan, Joe Richards, Wil Parker and Ed Allan.

“I just love the way he expresses himself on the footy field,” McRae said.

“He goes for his marks like his brother for Hawthorn. He is a talent. I think he is going to be really nice player for us.”

While Markov was added to Collingwood’s lengthy injury list, the defending premiers could soon be boosted by the returns of Jordan De Goey, Scott Pendlebury and Brody Mihocek.

All three key players are expected to be available to return when the Magpies travel to Gold Coast in round 15 after the club has its second bye for the season following the clash with the Kangaroos.

This Sunday’s clash also marks game 200 for premiership defender Brayden Maynard who earned priase from his coach for the “way he goes about it” which had made him a villain for fans of other teams.

“Bruzzy’s 200th is something we will celebrate tomorrow. We’ll get his family in, 200 games at this level is really, really hard to do,” McRae said.

“The way he has gone about it, the way he has put on the jumper and represents himself – you see the tough exterior, we see the big cuddly teddy bear he is inside our walls, he appreciates others, he cares for others.”