There is no doubt that Daicos playing poorly severely reduces the overall quality of the Pies midfield. But Daicos is not an inside mid nor a contested winning bull.
This is the main weakness of Collingwood. It’s why they went and got Mitchell. But he’s bog ordinary at using the footy and he’s slow as a wet rag. They keep subbing him off to try and get some more run in last quarters.
De Goey is the only inside mid they have who can really hurt you on the outside. But he’s inconsistent and mentally soft.
Their midfield is one dimensional. If you stop them winning the footy then by extension you limit Daicos as he needs the ball fed out to him.
Butters on the other hand can win his own ball and destroy you with it. He is far more damaging and hard to stop than Daicos IMO.
The key to beating Pies is to shut down De Goey and Adams. De Goey only had 17 today and Adams 13. Combined they had 7 clearances. Nash had 6 by himself.