Two-time North Melbourne premiership player David King has urged Cameron Zurhaar and fellow young Kangaroos to reciprocate the development of Christian Petracca.
The Demons bull has launched into Brownlow contention in 2020 after working on his aerobic range, which has allowed Petracca to play a majority of his time in the midfield and then rest as a forward.
Zurhaar, a similar frame and role player to a younger Petracca, was headlined as one Kangaroos player King would like to see mimic the shape and capabilities of Petracca in the upcoming off-season.
โNot just Cam Zurhaar. The question for young players is โhow good can I be?โ A lot of young players just wait for 60 or 80 games for the penny to drop. I think they are waiting for nothing,โ he explained on Fox Footyโs First Crack.
โThereโs no reason to wait. Look at Christian Petracca and what he has been able to physically do over the last 12 months. Heโs made a decision to consciously change his whole lifestyle and look at the benefits.
โJust in body shape you can see he is a man now, he has dedicated his life to become the full package. I donโt think he wouldโve expected to have the 2020 he has had.
โTop three in Brownlow betting, clearly going to be Melbourneโs best and fairest winner this season and he is one of the great players in our competition.โ
King added that Zurhaar could be one pre-season away from taking a massive step in his career.
โIโm watching the Kangaroos game and Iโm thinking โCam Zurhaar, what are you waiting for?โ Youโve played 40-odd games of footy and youโre 22 years of age,โ he said.
โIs your body getting to the same shape as a Christian Petracca? And Iโm not going to judge you today because this year has been a difficult year and clearly the hub life has an impact on all those things.
โThis is one of the reasons he can only play in the midfield for 10 minutes because you canโt cover the ground. Now Petracca went through that, Rayner went through that and he is turning the corner.
โI want to judge the first time we see Cam Zurhaar in 2021, when we see a photo in January, I want to see him be the Christian Petracca of 2020.
โEvery club has got them. Iโm just saying Zurhaar because I noticed it.โ
