North Melbourne star forward Nick Larkey believes that fortunes will begin to change at Arden Street this season, as the inclusions of premiership veterans and skilled youngsters bolster a talented Kangaroos list.
Pre-season is underway for the Roos, with the additions of veterans Luke Parker, Caleb Daniel, and Jack Darling joining the fold and immediately encouraging high training standards for a young North Melbourne squad.
Larkey said the intensity of training was already higher than last year's pre-season, and that the transition between drills has never been more "streamlined". When speaking with the new veteran inclusions to the Kangaroos, Larkey noted they'd been impressed with the work put in so far.
"It's good to know it stacks up," Larkey said to the media.
In one of the first trades of the AFL's October trade period, West Coast sent 298-game stalwart Jack Darling to the Kangaroos for Pick 67, with the 32-year-old signing until the end of 2026 at North Melbourne.
The trade was viewed as contentious by some, with Darling scoring just 22 goals in 2024, but Larkey believes his insertion to the forward line will only improve the side.
"It'll make everyone in the forward line better," Larkey said.
"I'm looking forward to learning off him.
"He just knows where to run, just what you'd expect of a veteran player. Our forward line has been super young for the past few years so it's also nice to have another leader there to direct.
"It's like a player you've been playing with for years."
Darling's presence has also implicitly assisted his teammates in the past, with former teammate Josh Kennedy winning two Coleman medals by his side, whilst Oscar Allen and Jake Waterman have also kicked over 50 goals with Darling in the team, despite the Eagles on-field woes in recent seasons.
However, Larkey said he is not focussed on increasing his goalkicking tally, aiming to see a combined effort result in wins on the board in 2025.
"If I'm honest I could not care less about the total goals I kick," the 26-year-old said.
"All I care about is winning really, it's time. It sounds cliche but it really does not matter who kicks the goals, and if we're gonna be a good side we need a more broad span of goalkickers anyway, so we can't rely on Jack or me, or (Cameron Zurhaar) or (Paul Curtis).
"One player to kick 50, 60 plus would be nice, it's a bonus on top, but you need a good spread of goalkickers. You look at the good teams last year they had a good spread in the forward line."
Premiers Brisbane had eight players average a goal per game or more in 2024, while runner-up Sydney had seven. Last season, the Kangaroos had just three.
Larkey is hoping the veteran additions and growing crop of youthful talent will spark a more successful season for the Roos, although he isn't putting a number or result on their pass mark.
"You don't want to put a cap, you don't want to set a number of wins for a pass mark, you're even capping yourself there... we're gonna pick up little wins here and there throughout the season, I don't think we're necessarily chasing a position on the ladder," Larkey said.
"From where we've been, I think you'll see the pass mark will be seeing the improvement on the ground... and seeing all these young guys take the next step in their game."
"It wears super thin, everyone's sick of (losing).
"I admire the club for what they did to get Matt Whitlock. They had him quite high in the draft and he kept sliding back. We just wanted to get all the talent in now... We've got enough here and from there we'll need to build.
"But yeah, I'm sick of losing," Larkey said lightheartedly.
The former Pick 73 is adamant that on-field success will also see Luke Davies-Uniacke re-sign, with the current gun midfielder out of contract at the end of this season.
"I'm super confident (Luke Davies-Uniacke will re-sign). He just wants to see some improvement, and that's fair enough too. Where he's at with his career and the hard yards he's put in with North Melbourne, he's been here through all the really tough times, seen a lot of change and we've finally got a bit of stability.
"Everyone can see it, especially him, he looks out there, the players he's playing around and seeing their potential, that would definitely excite him.
"It's his decision, but I've got no doubt in my mind that if we improve this year, I'm sure he'll stick around."
North Melbourne's first test with their bolstered list and stabilising core crop of youngsters takes place on Saturday, March 15 against 2024 finalists Western Bulldogs.
