Nick Larkey experienced something of a coming-of-age season in 2021. After being made to bide his time in the VFL, then forced to wait to become the primary forward in North Melbourne’s forward line, he proved himself as one of the AFL's most dangerous key forwards last year.
He finished 12th in the Coleman Medal with 42 goals, and no pair of players across the competition kicked more goals than Larkey and teammate Cam Zurhaar after Round 13.
Larkey is still just 23, and the partnerships he is forming with his fellow forwards could last for a whole Arden Street generation.
He says he’s excited for the forwards to build on a promising 2021 season.
“A lot of boys have come through and had really good pre-seasons. ‘CJ’ (Callum Coleman-Jones) has come in from the Tigers and he looks like a really good player … ‘X’ (Tristan Xerri) has had a really good pre-season,” Larkey told North Media.
“We’ve got Cam (Zurhaar), ‘Curty’ (Curtis Taylor), Tarryn (Thomas) … ‘Horney’ (Jason Horne-Francis) when he’s down there, ‘Mahns’ (Jack Mahony) is looking good … ‘Chom’ (Charlie Comben) is another one who’s had a good pre-season.
“I think we’ve just really clicked really well as a forward group this pre-season and hopefully that synergy will build into the pre-season.
“Everyone’s trying to knock the door down, and hopefully we can get four talls in the one forward line - that’d be nice.”
Being a key forward, ‘Souv’ is a player who relies on the service provided to him by his midfielders.
With Ben Cunnington indefinitely unavailable as he recovers from his course of chemotherapy, the Kangaroos’ other midfielders will need to step up, and Larkey says the group is well on track.
“They all look really, really good. They’ve picked up the slack with ‘Cunners’ not being able to train at the moment,” he said.
“It’s exciting. ‘Horney’ is looking really good and looks like a weapon. Will Phillips has picked up a lot and is looking good in there. Tarryn’s looking smooth, Jy (Simpkin) is as fit as ever … and LDU (Luke Davies-Uniacke) looks strong as well.
“It’s just a good, young core of players. There’s a lot of options so I’m looking forward to it."
