Former Collingwood recruiter Matt Rendell has named Oakleigh Chargers prospect Nick Daicos as the "clear" No.1 draft selection for 2021.

Daicos, son of Peter and brother to current Magpies midfielder Josh, is set to join Collingwood at the draft via a father-son selection, with rival clubs likely to force the Magpies' hand early into the count.

The highly-touted teenager featured in a black and white jumper in the VFL against the Bulldogs last week and impressed many recruiters despite going all last year without the NAB League competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Daicos has been training with the Magpies in the pre-season and told The Herald Sun recently that it has aided his development ahead of the 2021 season.

“The six weeks at Collingwood doing a bit of match sim, that really helped and even settled the nerves going into the VFL game,” Daicos said.

“I knew that I was pretty well prepared from the last six weeks training at the top level.”

Having impressed at a senior level already and keeping recruiters on high alert, Daicos is gaining some strong attention from onlookers, with Rendell tipping the defence-midfield utility as the current crop's best talent.

“Nick Daicos, who after the weekend and speaking to quite a few people, is the clear No.1 (pick) this year,” Rendell said on SEN. 

“He’s been at the club for quite a while, so he’s going to walk in feeling like he's been there for three years.”

Daicos previously drew comparisons to Greater Western Sydney gun Lachie Whitfield given his great ball use and run from half-back.

“He’s played half-back at school and he looked pretty good there the other day. I sort of look at Lachie Whitfield," a recruiter told The Age.

"He was probably a bit similar coming through. He probably doesn’t have the elite endurance of Lachie but just his skills and run, and Lachie’s obviously looked pretty good off half-back, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts there and ends up maybe on a wing.

“He’d be in the mix [for Collingwood’s team now]. On that game, there was a lot of AFL guys playing and in the first half I would have had him in the top few on the ground. He fell out of it a little bit, but he’d be close."