Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos led to Collingwood to a comfortable 13.15 93 to 8.9 57 victory over Richmond on Sunday afternoon at the MCG.
The Pies superstar had 42 disposals and three goals, backing up a career-best 43-disposal effort last week, with his brilliance snapping a two-game losing streak for Collingwood.
He had at least 10 disposals and one goal in each of the first three quarters to help put a game-winning buffer between his side and the Tigers.
It's the highest-rated game of any player this year, with Daicos' rating coming in at 37.2 points for the game.
“That's pretty high praise isn't it?” coach Craig McRae said.
“To be the most of anyone in the competition this year says a lot about his performance today.
“It's two weeks in a row he's been able to create off halfback in moments and then still not lose the dynamic stuff around the ball and even moving deep forward.
“That's a year full of planning somewhat and finding out what the game needs and what we need and he's not alone – we've been doing that behind the scenes week after week and seeing what it looks like.”
The win was soured, somewhat, by a suspected PCL injury to Lachie Sullivan, who has played 13 games in 2025.
He was subbed off in the third quarter and replaced by Oleg Markov, who was a late addition to the lineup as the Pies managed Scott Pendlebury.
Jordan De Goey and Bobby Hill both returned from sustained layoffs in the VFL on Saturday night, with the Pies coach pleased with what he saw as both played 70 per cent game time in an important step towards a senior return.
Another player to miss was Scott Pendlebury, who was managed with a minor injury ahead of September action.
“He got a knock at training, he didn't think much of it but pulled up sore and it didn't improve enough," McRae said.
"A guy like him who knows his body like no one else came to me and said ‘I'm not sure (I'm) 100 per cent here and improving quickly enough which allowed us to do some things to get ready for next week,” McRae said.
Having been open about the desire for Collingwood to reach the 14-win threshold to qualify for finals, Collingwood then lost back-to-back matches, which McRae said led to a slight altering of the messaging.
“We went a little bit sideways for a period of a couple of weeks just around setting goals for ourselves and our group just love chasing something,” McRae said.
“So we put something in front of them again and top four is something we want to qualify for and we're close to that but we're not there yet.”
