Coach Craig McRae has revealed Nick Daicos was almost ruled out twice before his star man played a crucial role in Collingwood's epic comeback win over North Melbourne.
Daicos overcame a lower leg injury during the week and was then in serious doubt for Sunday's match because of illness.
But the Brownlow Medal fancy stepped up with 29 disposals, six clearances and two crucial third-quarter goals, helping the Magpies overturn a 54-point deficit to win by the barest possible margin.
The influential display came despite Daicos coming under close attention from Kangaroos tagger Will Phillips for three quarters.
"He's a marvel, isn't he? He was sick yesterday, a chance not to play," McRae said after the 18.11 (119) to 19.4 (118) victory.
"You know the old magnet like for like? We don't have one of those (for Daicos).
"So I didn't sleep that well and didn't really want to check the phone this morning to see if he was going to be OK.
"Then he was getting tagged well.
"They've been doing some good jobs on him in the last couple of weeks but he just finds a way to get into the game through work-rate.
"You watch his work-rate contest to contest ... I'm really proud of him."
Phillips was a late inclusion for Kangaroos co-captain Jy Simpkin, who was withdrawn because of a hamstring injury.
The 2020 No.3 draft pick went to Daicos at the opening bounce and performed a decent job of blunting the Magpies' biggest weapon in the first half.
But he was replaced by substitute Jaidyn Stephenson for the final quarter and Daicos had 10 disposals for the term as Collingwood surged over the top over their opponents.
Kangaroos coach Alastair Clarkson defended the tactical decision to take Phillips out of the game.
"He was doing a good job but we had the freshness of the sub and Will was starting to fatigue a little bit," Clarkson said.
"Liam Shiels went to try and finish that (Daicos) job off.
"I don't think it was pivotal in terms of the final result but we just wanted to use the freshness of our sub, and 'Stevo' was ok when he came on and gave us a little bit of drive."
