WHEN Collingwood drafts Nick Daicos on Wednesday night, it will be but a mere formality after the highly-rated father-son prospect signed with the club in August.

While the midfielder, son of club great Peter, has been on the Pies' radar for a long time, Collingwood list manager Derek Hine  wasn't always impressed with Daicos' ability.

"With the father-sons, they slip in and out, but I was hearing everyone raving about this Nick Daicos," Hine told Cal Twomey and Riley Beveridge on NAB AFL Draft Countdown on Wednesday.

"I watched him a little bit at Carey - I think he was 15 at the time - and I thought: 'He's OK.'

"[A few years later] he was at a camp down at Deakin, and I hadn't seen him in a while but he was doing a bit of stuff and I thought: 'He's a little bit better than I thought he was!'"

The Pies, whose first selection is pick No.36, face a nervous wait to see if - and when - other clubs bid on Daicos.

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"It's a little bit of a waiting game for us, how long we have to wait… it’ll be sorted out early we would have thought," Hine said.

"We have no indication of what the clubs in the top two or three are doing.

"We’re prepared for the worst and hoping for the best."

Hine said Collingwood's entire draft plan hinges upon whether a bid for Daicos comes at pick No.2, 3, or 4.

"We've got an appetite to trade [picks]... If [the bid comes at] two or three, it's highly unlikely we’ll do anything in a trading sense," he said.

"But if it does come at four we'll look at our options.

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"We’ve clearly got enough points to cover off all scenarios.

"We could either trade on the clock or trade prior to the second round tomorrow."