Taking the mantle of North’s primary key forward at such a young age, Nick Larkey looks to have been given the opportunity to stake his claim as North next great full forward.

As Larkey’s form has improved over the last month, so has North’s, and with 16 marks and 7 goals in his last three games, the upturn in his fortunes is obvious.

Even as part of a forward line that seems to be lifting its game with every passing week, Larkey says North’s midfield deserves much of the credit for how the side is currently firing.

“Up forward you’re always a bit of a product of what happens up the ground, so when the team goes well we get a lot of the reward,” Larkey told North Media.

“All the forward relish when the ball comes in quickly and nicely on the lead … we’ve got a lot of space to work with in the forward line which helps us more.

“Cunners (Ben Cunnington) has been huge, Jy (Simpkin) has been unreal, LDU (Luke Davies-Uniacke) has stepped it up in recent weeks as well.

“If we can get that engine room going well it’s happy days for the forwards usually.”

The title and task of being North’s main forward option has been an adjustment for Larkey, who shows maturity beyond his 42 career games.

With his eye of the needle level of accuracy, he has kicked 58 goals and just 17 behind in his North career - an efficient return for the tall forward.

While he accepts it is his forward line, Larkey says it’s the work of all the other forwards in the group that allow him to thrive in his role.

“It (his role) did take a little while to get accustomed to it, but other players have been stepping up in the forward line as well,” he said.

“Cam’s been stepping it up in recent weeks, Garns coming in as another target has been awesome, so that’s made defences think about us as a forward line a bit differently and that in turn opens me up sometimes.

“I think it took me a while to adjust but the better we can work as a forward line, the better it’s going to be individually as well."