{"id":334573,"date":"2025-12-08T08:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334573\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T08:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T08:58:12","slug":"larkey-set-to-be-roos-skipper-after-simpkins-failed-trade-push","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/334573\/","title":{"rendered":"Larkey set to be Roos skipper after Simpkin’s failed trade push"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Exclusive\n <\/p>\n

\n Nick Larkey is set to be named new North Melbourne captain\n <\/p>\n

Nick Larkey and Jy Simpkin after North Melbourne’s loss to Carlton in R6, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

NICK Larkey is set to be North Melbourne’s next captain after being voted in as the club’s new skipper.<\/p>\n

AFL.com.au understands Larkey is set to lead the Roos in 2026, taking over the position from Jy Simpkin.<\/p>\n

The board will have to ratify the decision before an announcement is confirmed.<\/p>\n

Simpkin was co-captain for two seasons before taking over the sole captaincy in 2025 but after he explored a trade out of the Roos in the off-season<\/a>, he stepped aside from North’s leadership process ahead of next year.<\/p>\n

Larkey, 27, has been the Kangaroos’ focal point in attack and the club’s leading goalkicker for the past five seasons.<\/p>\n

He made the All-Australian team in 2023, with his rise to be one of the elite tall forwards in the game coming after being a bargain draft choice at No.73 in the 2016 draft, so far tallying 134 games.<\/p>\n

Nick Larkey celebrates a goal during round 10, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Simpkin won’t be a part of the Roos’ official leadership group in 2026, with young gun Harry Sheezel, midfield star Luke Davies-Uniacke, ruckman Tristan Xerri, swingman Charlie Comben and forward Cam Zurhaar expected to feature in the Roos’ leadership team.<\/p>\n

Larkey and Sheezel served as co-vice captains to Simpkin last year, with the 21-year-old Sheezel deemed a future skipper of the club after his brilliant start to his AFL career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive Nick Larkey is set to be named new North Melbourne captain Nick Larkey and Jy Simpkin after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,83,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-334573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-text","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}