Collingwood are daring St Kilda to put a hard tag on Nick Daicos, with Magpies coach Craig McRae questioning its worth.
After restricting Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli to just 14 disposals last week, St Kilda's Marcus Windhager is at very short odds to be on the Magpies ball magnet in Saturday night's AFL clash.
But McRae noted that the Bulldogs still smashed St Kilda by 72 points. While Melbourne's Ed Langdon also restricted Daicos in the King's Birthday clash, likewise the Magpies won a tight contest.
In Collingwood's post-game review, McRae was taken aback by the attention Daicos received off the ball early against Melbourne.
"It caught me off guard a bit how much he was getting tackled off the ball early," McRae said on Thursday.
"But he got some reasonable free kicks in the end to balance that out.
"You tag someone, that comes at a cost to you and so we hope they tag him this week, which I'm sure they will.
"You have to find the best of best worlds."
The Magpies hosted some umpires at Thursday training and assistant coach Matthew Boyd made sure the attention being paid to Daicos by the opposition was a topic of discussion.
"He just asked the question," McRae said with a grin.
The Collingwood coach added they are still trying to find the right way to support Daicos, while making sure they maximise their chances of winning.
"Windhager tagged Bontempelli and they lost by 72 points - what value do you put on it?," McRae said.
"'Nick' in itself is a challenge every week. You want him to be the best he possibly can be and then the opposition want him to be the opposite of that.
"So we have to get the balance right - do what's required to win the game and then obviously Nick's a big part of that.
"But it's pleasing to think we're winning games and Nick's not having an influence - that says a lot about our system. I'm constantly looking at how we can support Nick."
While Pat Lipinski will return from concussion, Brayden Maynard will have to wait another week as he builds fitness after his foot injury.
"'Bruzzy' is a couple of training sessions short of being ready to really be at his best," McRae said.
"Ideally he'll set himself up to be available next week.
"This is a high-performance decision more than a coaches' decision ... a couple more sessions, he'll be right."
