Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos will miss at least six weeks with a broken bone in his knee – with another big name joining him for a long stint on the sidelines

Brownlow medal favorite Nick Daicos will miss six weeks with a broken knee, sidelining the young Collingwood gun well into the AFL finals series.

In massive fallout from Saturday’s shock loss to 16th-seeded Hawthorn, the ladder-leading Magpies have also lost defenseman Nathan Murphy for two to three weeks with an ankle injury.

Daicos was injured in the second term of Saturday’s twilight game at the MCG when he was tagged out of the game by Hawthorn’s Finn Maginness.

The prolific ball-winner had just five disposals for the game, well below his usual output.

Collingwood football boss Graham Wright said the youngest of the Daicos brothers has a hairline fracture in the lateral tibial plateau of the right knee joint.

“Nick was seen this morning by a specialist knee surgeon and while fortunately this will not require surgery, he will need time to heal before returning to football,” Wright said in a club statement.

“At this stage, the expected time frame for Nick is six weeks.”

A mainstay in the Magpies’ defense, Murphy ended the game on the bench next to Daicos after having to be helped off the field.

Wright said Murphy was diagnosed with a minor syndesmosis injury in his right ankle.

“Nathan and Nick have played an important role this season, they are consummate professionals and will do everything they can to get through their rehab,” Wright added.

The Brownlow Medal favorite was tagged out of the game by Hawk Finn Maginness and easily had his worst game of the season

Daicos’ injury came three days after he and older brother Josh signed long-term deals to stay with the Magpies.

After being injured in the second term, the youngster Daicos suffered a collision with Hawthorn defenseman James Blanck early in the third quarter.

With the young gun clearly not his best, Collingwood sent Daicos deep in attack for the second half, eventually taking him to the bench to finish the match.

While Collingwood remains at the top of the ladder, Daicos and Murphy’s injuries come on top of back-to-back losses to Carlton and Hawthorn.

It is the first time the Magpies have lost twice in a row since the eighth and ninth rounds of last season.

Each week, opposing coaches have been asked how they intend to stop Nick Daicos, whose previous lowest disposals in a game this season were 27.

While Maginness claimed a big scalp, Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said it wasn’t easy.

“I’d like to tell you it was easy. It’s an absolute nightmare,” he said.

In another blow to the Pies, defenseman Nathan Murphy (pictured assisting from the ground in the Hawks game) will be out for up to three weeks with an ankle injury

“It’s a nightmare in the trainers’ box. We have a meeting before the game – a “what if” meeting.

“I’d say 30-40 percent of it is ‘okay, what if Daicos starts here, does this, does that?'”

There’s no doubt Maginness had a blinder.

Daicos is an absolute star. But Finn, I was really proud of him,” Mitchell said.

Magpies coach Craig McRae acknowledged Maginness, but was asked if Daicos had enough support from his teammates.

Sure enough, the Magpies fired up when there was a fight early in the third term – which led directly to a double goal when Daicos got a free kick before the ball went back to center.

But McRae said it was an “interesting question” whether the young Daicos had enough help overall to beat the Maginness tag.