North Melbourne's forward scout will help Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams guide the Dream Team and is thrilled to get the opportunity to work with the best of the best.
"It is a tremendous opportunity to be asked to do it," he said. "Like I would from week to week here [at North Melbourne], I treat it as if it is a big game and do everything I can to prepare the coaches and our players to get the result we want."
He never played at AFL level, but did have a career with Balwyn in the Southern Football League competition. After undergoing reconstructions on his knee and shoulder, Daly finished his modest career and became an assistant with Balwyn before winning a part-time job with Collingwood.
Daly, more than anybody, knows his was not the traditional path to coaching and mentorship at the elite level.
"It was a bit of a case of it’s not what you know, it’s who you know," he said. "I was fortunate enough to know someone who worked at West Coast who provided my name when Collingwood were looking for someone to assist with the opposition analysis.
"When Dean (Laidley) got a job at North he asked me to come across in a full-time capacity and I’ve been here six years now."
A native Victorian, Daly has already spent time assessing how Victoria might line up and has no problem plotting against his home state.
"I don’t feel funny about being with the Dream Team," he said. "I’d like to say I’m a bit like Tadhg Kennelly, I’ve got a lot of Irish blood in me.
"We’ve done a bit of research to try to establish how they might line up. It won’t be too far off the mark, it is more their style of play that will be up in the air."
One Vic Daly won’t have to study too closely is Kangaroo Brent Harvey, the man who won the last ever E.J. Whitten medal as his state's player in 1999.
"Boomer came to me this morning and asked if we were tagging him. I told him to get out of my office quick-smart because I was doing some work for the Dream Team," Daly laughed.
"I’ll be very professional about it and give Choco (Mark Williams) what I need to give him without giving away too many details about Boomer’s strengths and weaknesses. I think we play Port Adelaide in six weeks.
"But I think Choco is professional and better-equipped than me to know about Boomer."
