New North Melbourne captain Nick Larkey gets some premiership advice from Brisbane\u2019s Harris Andrews at AFL captain\u2019s day last month. Photo: AFL MEDIA<\/p>\n
Timing can be everything in sport, and Nick Larkey concedes that from a career perspective, his probably couldn\u2019t have been a lot worse.<\/p>\n
When the kid from Oakleigh Chargers was taken by North Melbourne late in the 2016 national draft, the Roos had played in finals four of the previous five seasons, and had twice even played off for a grand final spot.<\/p>\n
Nine seasons later, that finals tally hasn\u2019t changed, and that is something of which, like everyone associated with the club, Larkey, a 134-game player and now also new North Melbourne captain, is painfully aware.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been easy,\u201d he smiles ruefully, speaking with ESPN ahead of Sunday\u2019s season-opener against Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium. \u201cNow Gold Coast has made it, every other team has played finals since then. So yeah, it\u2019s been tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
North Melbourne fans know the numbers all too well. Just 20 wins from 130 games over the last six seasons, a miserable strike rate of just 15 per cent. But even last year\u2019s five wins and a draw, the Roos\u2019 best return since 2019, is enough to keep the fires of hope alight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI finally feel our list has enough talent on it,\u201d he says. \u201cPart of it now really is the mental aspect of it. You know, if we can get a few wins and build that belief as a group.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year was a good step forward. We were a lot more competitive in games, and took it up to some really good teams. We did win more games than we have in previous years, even though it was still a low tally. But, you know, the more wins you get, the more belief you\u2019ve got in what you can do as a group. I\u2019m pretty confident we\u2019ll improve again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Larkey\u2019s smart enough to know the consequences for the Roos if they don\u2019t will be dire. Because it\u2019s fair to say the natives at Arden Street are, to say the least, restless.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been grumblings about board challenges and coach Alastair Clarkson\u2019s tenure all off-season, and they amped up again after the Roos were smashed by Melbourne in the first practice hit-out a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n
As silly as it may sound given the lack of stakes attached, North\u2019s subsequent vastly-improved showing in a one-point win over Collingwood at Ballarat a fortnight ago might have bought even a little time against the increasing noise. But the Roos need to hit the ground running this season.<\/p>\n
The good news is a draw \u2013 Port Adelaide, West Coast, Essendon and Carlton in the first four rounds \u2013 which may allow them to do so. And Larkey has a firm belief that if things can click for the raft of talented younger players, the Roos can not only rise, but rise significantly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all want to take a quantum leap, not just make incremental improvements,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we can finish around that mark where we\u2019re competing to get into that wildcard round, yeah, that would be a big leap, obviously.\u201d <\/p>\n