An unbackable favourite at $1.01 in some markets for the Brownlow Medal, Daicos is key to the Magpies' bid to advance from a wildcard finals clash with the Western Bulldogs.
On Tuesday night, Daicos won the Leigh Matthews Trophy as the AFL Players Association's player of the season and was named the AFL Coaches Association's champion player of the year.
It was the second time Daicos had won each award, but the first time he had claimed them in the same season, becoming just the sixth player to do so.
Gary Ablett Jr (2007-09), Dane Swan (2010), Patrick Dangerfield (2016), Dustin Martin (2017) and Lachie Neale (2020) also did the double.
Ablett (2009), Dangerfield, Martin and Neale all went on to claim the Brownlow Medal in the same season.
Daicos is widely tipped to follow suit, and was named in the All-Australian team for the fourth time in his five seasons since following brother Josh to Collingwood as a father-son draft pick, thanks to the great Peter Daicos.
The 23-year-old has been Collingwood's captain in the absence of injured premiership leader Darcy Moore, and the club's other vice-captain, Brayden Maynard.
"Definitely leaning towards that," McRae responded when asked if Daicos could be permanent captain next year.
"Those decisions will be made at the appropriate time.
"He got thrust into leadership opportunities with injury, and then him and 'Bruzzy' (Maynard) led us really, really well.
"Then with 'Bruzzy' going down, Nick's just driving the car by himself, and we're all following behind him.
"When you actually see what he's doing on the ground, no wonder the players are following."
Daicos has averaged a career-best 34.9 disposals this season and has kicked 24 goals in 22 appearances - more than one per game for the first time.
McRae revealed he had used vision of a mic'd up Daicos on the field as a learning tool for his Magpies playing group.
"I showed it to the players leading into the game against Hawthorn, just around his presence," McRae said.
"How present to the game he is, it's quite amazing to watch the footage, and then his intensity for the game.
"No wonder we all sit and watch what he does."
Daicos will again feature as stand-in captain against the Bulldogs at the MCG on Friday night and has revelled in the leadership role.
"It occurred through unfortunate events with Darce and Bruzzy being injured, but I feel like it's been a great opportunity for me and something I've really relished," Daicos said on stage at Melbourne's Centrepiece on Tuesday night.
"We pride ourselves on having a great array of leadership at the club ... and I felt really well supported.
"These opportunities to run out on the 'G with my best mates and compete for that one prize that we all want is something that's very special to me."
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