It has all finally clicked for Luke Davies-Uniacke.

Taken two picks after Fremantle's Andrew Brayshaw – a player he will face on Saturday night – in the 2017 NAB AFL Draft, Davies-Uniacke's career has perhaps taken a little longer to get going than that of his Fremantle counterpart.

But, in his past 15 games, the North Melbourne youngster has emerged as one of the competition's most impactful and prolific midfielders. It's a feat heightened by the fact that, despite his efforts, the Kangaroos have won just two of those outings.

Davies-Uniacke shone brightly again last Saturday, spearheading North Melbourne's first victory of the Alastair Clarkson era. He finished with 32 disposals, 19 contested possessions, 10 clearances, eight score involvements, seven inside-50s, five tackles and a goal.

His performance was worthy of a full 10 votes in the AFL Coaches' Association Champion Player of the Year award, and typified the type of improvement he's made to his game over the past 10 months.

Having dealt with ongoing form and fitness issues throughout his initial years in the League – a shoulder injury ended his 2019 season early, while ongoing groin problems hampered him in 2020 – Davies-Uniacke solidified his place in the Roos' team.

But from his earliest days, be it with the Dandenong Stingrays or Vic Country in junior football before being selected with the No.4 pick by North Melbourne, Davies-Uniacke had always looked a class above when he has the ball in his hands.

The biggest initial problem at the Kangaroos, though, was getting the footy in the first place; he averaged a little more than 17 disposals through his first 57 matches at AFL level and picked up 25 or more touches only five times.

He's since achieved that landmark 12 times in his past 15 games, providing yet more evidence of his ever-improving ability to find the footy.

Champion Data stats show that since round 13 last season, when Davies-Uniacke was well on his way towards becoming an elite player in the competition, he has averaged 29.3 disposals (ranked No.7 in the League), 13.2 contested possessions (ranked No.9) and 6.2 inside-50s (ranked No.2) per game.

His 6.7 clearances per match throughout that stretch rank just outside the AFL's top 10, while his AFL Player Ratings points – a stat designed to measure a player's effectiveness in a number of facets – have him as the eighth best player in the game.

Saturday's performance against West Coast proved his form in the second half of last year was no flash in the pan, either. Picking up where he left off, Davies-Uniacke had the second-most contested possessions, the second-most clearances, the third-most AFL Player Ratings points, the eighth-most disposals and the tenth-most inside-50s of anyone across the entire opening round.

The numbers are sustainable and suggest a breakout year is coming for the extremely talented 23-year-old.

But, according to his new coach, this is just the beginning of his development.

"He's a contested ball bull," Clarkson said after Saturday's game.

"He continues to take his game to another level. He was really, really strong for us today. He was clever with the ball. He's so strong between his hips and his knees. He's very hard to tackle.

"Those guys are worth their weight in gold, they draw two tacklers to them so often because of their capacity to hold their body in strong tackles. Ben Cunnington is a little bit like that, too. He wasn't as good as 'LDU' in that space today, but they're both really valuable midfielders for us.

"Our challenge, not just for Luke but for Nick Larkey, Cam Zurhaar, Jaidyn Stephenson, Ben McKay, Curtis Taylor, Jy Simpkin ... there's a whole crew of them that have played 50 to 120 games of footy. It's their footy club now in terms of raising the bar and seeing what they want to do with their club.

"Part of that, for our coaching staff and for them themselves, is to recognise what standards they can get to. All of those guys have got enormous potential to take another step with their careers, and we need them to. If they do, it's going to help the improvement of our club enormously. If they don't, it will just make our progress much tougher."

The growth of LDU

Since Round 13, 2022
Disposals: 29.3 (7th in the AFL)
Contested possessions: 13.2 (9th)
Inside 50s: 6.2 (2nd)
Clearances: 6.7 (11th)
AFL Player Rating points: 16.4 (8th)

v West Coast, Round 1, 2023
Disposals: 32 (8th)
Contested possessions: 19 (=2nd)
Inside 50s: 7 (10th)
Clearances: 10 (2nd)
AFL Player Rating points: 24.2 (3rd)

Statistics: Champion Data