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"I thought it was an absolute masterclass." | First Thoughts - The Irish Daicos (11.05.26)
10 May 2026
Chapter 1: What impressed Kane about Oisin Mullin's performance?
Kingy, I always let you go first. Where do your first thoughts lie this Monday morning?
Well, my first thoughts go to do the Cats now have the game that can match Brisbane?
Tell me more.
Well, everyone's talking about the new handball game that they played on the weekend.
Chapter 2: Can the Cats' new handball game match Brisbane's strategy?
I don't know if it's ā it has been creeping into their game, no doubt. I'm not sure it's an absolute thing until we see it for a bit longer, but it was brilliant on the weekend. On Saturday night, it was awesome to watch them just link by hand. Normally, they go fast wide by foot, but they broke into a different mode and set a record for ā Joey presented some stuff last night.
I think it was their highest handball meters gained ā bar one performance for about a decade, about 10 or 12 years. So is this them? And if it is them, can it challenge Brisbane? I think the handball game is breaking down defences. So those that have a great setback six and a set way of defending are now getting disrupted by this new run and gun model. So it's challenging all.
Does it challenge Brisbane? We find out on Thursday night.
We will. What a game that's going to be at the Gabba on Thursday night. The third quarter, their running power. I mean, I was watching on TV. You were there, but you could just see it. Like Holmes, Smith, Dempsey, even Cameron. The run that they have in this squad, Mullen, O'Connor, they can just all run.
Chapter 3: How did the handball game impact the Cats' performance?
And it just looked as though Collingwood couldn't go with them when they went to that mode. In the third term, I do watch my taggers closely, Kingy. You love a good tagger. He's arrived. The Irish Dacos beating the real Dacos on Saturday night was a thing of beauty. It was a thing of beauty. They call him the Irish Dacos. That's how good he was at the Gaelic game.
He's now emerging as a genuine player. I mean, they've been pretty patient with him, but All the talk about, can you tag Nick Dacos? And you look at his numbers, Nick, and you go, he's still at 29. But did he? Dive a little bit deeper. I went and watched yesterday every single possession that Dacos had and Mullen had. Firstly, some numbers on this in terms of where Nick won his ball.
So Nick had 22 disposers in the back half. He kicked it at 42%. Thought he turned the footy over. His kicking hasn't been the best this year. He only had two clearances and four score involvements. Mullen had 21, nine score involvements, five clearances and 10 possessions in the front half. That's how you play him.
Starting point reference, if he wins the footy, you are all over him to pressure the disposal. And then at the right opportunity, if you can sense it, get off him and get off him in the forward half, which is what He did, and then Nick gets a little bit desperate. You can tell because Nick needs the footy, so then he goes and takes a kick out. Oh, God, Nick's taking kick outs. Perfect.
Happy days. And then he'll get it back from a kick out. And then there was one instance where he took a kick out, got it back, and then he got a last disposal free kick all in about 30 seconds. And you go, okay, well, if Nick's getting it in the back half, that's perfect for us. I thought it was an absolute masterclass from the Irish team.
on Saturday night, and I just wanted to give him a shout-out this morning for what a brilliant game. He has to get coaches' votes. I assume he does. I assume he doesn't get all of them, but I think the coaches would recognise what a performance that was.
He's knocked a few good ones over, hasn't he?
Yeah, he's got... He got Bond. He got Rankin. I reckon Butters got him this year, but he's got Butters previously.
He's been good against Butters in the past. It's just such an asset that you can say, okay, he's not going to be hopeless when he gets the ball. He's got that awkward gait, hasn't he? But he travels.
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Chapter 4: What insights did Kane gain from analyzing Nick Dacos's performance?
This is a good question. I love this angle, and I'm not going to disagree with you.
Have you got a nomination or two?
Well, I think Butters is an incredibly hard worker. I think his ability to will himself to contest and then win contests. I mean, we've got some great runners in the game. I think Nassau is now a great runner, hard worker, understanding what you have to do to be tagged. I think Holmes is the way that he covers the ground. Bailey Smith will get to it in a tick.
Yeah, but in terms of just brute force, ability to win contests and all that... Could you come up with a one, two, three for me before the show's out?
Chapter 5: How did Oisin Mullin effectively tag Nick Dacos?
Yeah, let's do that. Let's do that. Hey, just on Bailey Smith, what a recruit he's been. It just struck me as I was watching the footy. He's a little bit quiet in the first half, but I'm going, what a... So the best players do it every single week. So he's played 31 games for Geelong, Bailey Smith. Only three out of the 31, he hasn't had 25 disposals.
And the other three were sort of low, 20, 22, 23. The consistency to just rock up and do that every single week. In the second half, he had 25, 11 score involvements, and over 400 meters gained. And Geelong gave up picks 17 and 38 to get him. This is one of the great recruits. And we get distracted by Bailey. And yep, there's a few headaches here and there. There's been zero headaches this year.
So I think he's sort of pulled his head in somewhat off the field as well. Or he's just doing it in a way where it doesn't cause any extra attention onto him and the club. But he needs a big shift. What a recruit. He has been. He was enormous in the second half. And speaking about willing yourself to contest, that's what he does.
So, yeah, he's a star, Bailey Smith, and one of Geelong's best ever recruits already. So what a bargain it was to get him.
It's a great call. It's a great call.
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