North Melbourne aces Cameron Zurhaar and Nick Larkey open up about life away from Arden Street
Cameron Zurhaar and Nick Larkey could be the funniest housemates in the AFL. The young Kangaroos reveal their home improvement fails, bizarre tattoos, unusual hobbies and the TV show that made them leave the lights on at night.
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North Melbourne forward Nick Larkey wants a couch on the rooftop deck to make the most of city views from the Kensington pad he shares with teammate Cameron Zurhaar.
Zurhaar says the couch idea is another example of the “dumb s---” Larkey comes up with.
The negotiation is unrelenting.
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“He wants to put something on the rooftop that just doesn’t go there — a couch,” Zurhaar said.
“It is open air so it will just get wet, it’s just not smart.
“Sometimes he says dumb s--- so I have to put him in line.”
The pot shots and banter ebbs and flows, with Larkey and Zurhaar sitting opposite each other in the foyer at Arden Street.
“It’s my way or the highway for Cam,” Larkey said.
“We clash heads at stages.”
The sticking point is not so much the couch but where to put the “nice bar table” Zurhaar has bought, and the fact a couch would only detract from that.
Not satisfied, and certainly not one to concede, the negotiation escalates as Larkey starts to trace a deck design on the coffee table with his index finger.
“We could have both. He picked up the bar table, it goes there,” Larkey said.
“We have a couch there, a couch there and another little table there.”
The remnants of a herb garden is said to be nearby, too, but after months of neglect the pot plant has been repurposed into “a rooftop urinal”.
OPPOSITES (really do) ATTRACT
One says it how it is.
The other, likes to let people down softly.
One has a suite of oddball tattoos.
The other, wants one — or maybe more.
One worked night shift stacking supermarket shelves and as bricklayer.
The other coached junior basketball for pocket money.
Yet, for all their differences, the rising stars match like royal blue and white stripes.
Like all relationships, Zurhaar and Larkey bounce off each other and often complete each other’s sentences.
Zurhaar: “Personalities we’re different as well.”
Larkey: “Go well together though, good dynamic.”
Zurhaar: “We’e very different, but we’ve obviously created a great friendship.”
The bromance started off slow, “we didn’t really hang out a lot when we were first year”, one said, but it “blossomed” last year as the 2016 draft steals cemented spots in the best 22.
Oakleigh Chargers alumni Larkey was the fifth-last player selected (pick No.73) in the national draft, while North plucked East Fremantle export Zurhaar as a rookie.
“I've got his initials on my bum,” Zurhaar said.
“That’s how much he means to me.
“I'm just waiting for my name to get on him.”
True story.
Zurhaar had “NL” stamped on his rump last year, along with “TG” and “DW” for teammate Taylor Garner and former Kangaroo and housemate Declan Watson.
“He (Larkey) wants me to get the full — Nicholas Larkey Established 1988,” Zurhaar said.
“I won’t fall for that one.”
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Bull-at-a-gate Zurhaar is quite the contradiction too, known to unwind on the golf course and over good coffee and wine.
So much so, Zurhaar, who carved a reputation last year for a ferocious attack on the ball, wants to do a sommelier course next, for “s---s and gigs”.
“Only (drink wine) after a game,” Zurhaar said.
“I got ‘Souv’ (Larkey) into wine now, a nice pinot … only drink reds and rose.
“Chardonnay is a bit too sweet for me, I'm sweet enough.”
Behind the constant banter is a respect and resolve to enjoy team success.
“I reckon he goes the hardest in the team,” Larkey said of Zurhaar.
“It lifts you, (watching) him lay a tackle or keep his feet in a one-on-one, it’s just as good as kicking a goal.”
After nine games in two seasons, Zurhaar emerged last year with real x-factor, highlighted by two five-goal hauls and benchmark 11-tackle performance in a mid-season win over eventual premier Richmond.
Drew Petrie-clone Larkey, the VFL’s leading goalkicker in 2018, was just as impressive next to Kangaroos spearhead Ben Brown.
Larkey booted 26 goals from 17 games including two bags of five.
“As a forward the whole team has to click for you to get good opportunities,” Larkey said, before being cut off.
Zurhaar: “He was a bit cut when we both kicked five goals against St Kilda, he thought he was going to get all the limelight.”
Larkey: “He got three votes, I didn’t get one!”
DIY DELIGHT
Some like fishing, others golf and family commitments.
The lads rely on “projects” in their spare time and will often been seen wandering the aisles at Bunnings to feed a mutual DIY addiction.
“We were going to lacquer our deck yesterday but unfortunately the whole can spilt in the back of my car,” Zurhaar said.
“That was a project in itself because we had to wash it out.
“We do a lot around the house … buy junk we don’t need (but) think it’s cool.”
A garden variety leaf blower is one example, bought because a “nice” vacuum — “one below a Dyson” — was too expensive.
“It was a leaf blower and sucker,” Larkey said.
“Worked a treat … then he (Zurhaar) splashed out and got a nice vacuum.
“It’s a little hobby, strolling the aisles at Bunnings and finding something weird in there.
“I’ll tell you what is too expensive. Fake plants.
“We wanted to put some fake plants on the rooftop and its $50 a pop for something plastic that’s that (puts hands about 40cm apart) big.”
Having grown tired of NBA 2K and table tennis wars, the latest “fad” is documentaries.
But true crime thriller Don’t F*** With Cats : Hunting an Internet Killerhas made the pair think twice about late-night television.
“We slept together last night after watching it,” Zurhaar said, to which Larkey added: “He left me halfway through the third (episode) … I told him to leave the light on, I was pooing it.”
SHAW THING
Coach Rhyce Shaw loves analogies and metaphors.
He’s good at them too, Larkey and Zurhaar both agree.
Although the “random” messaging sometimes makes Zurhaar think back to school and teachers reading books to the class during story time.
“He’ll come to a meeting and start off with something random like, ‘I was watering my garden last night and …’ and he’ll somehow link the team to a watering can or something,” Larkey said.
“He can bring a metaphor out of anything.”
It hasn’t always gone to plan though, as Zurhaar recounted Shaw’s maiden address as interim coach ahead of spirit-lifting Round 12 win over the Tigers.
“He was a bit nervous and the boys picked up that he missed a few words and it (pump up speech) didn’t make sense,” Zurhaar said.
“But at the end we still jumped up and were like ‘Yeah!’ and cheering, it was pretty funny.”
THE DUCK
It is a moniker familiar to Shinboner fans.
But a new lower-leg tattoo, which has earned Zurhaar critical acclaim the past week, depicting a cartoon-style white duck wearing blue sandals, isn’t a zany ode to the ‘Duck’, North Melbourne legend Wayne Carey.
In actual fact, it originally goes back to the glorious bowling figures Zurhaar recorded as a 12-year-old playing at Melville Cricket Club, in Perth.
“Six wickets. All for ducks. In a game. Six ducks,” Zurhaar said.
But also, the plump duck symbolises a day Zurhaar, who also has a “Bali special” pink flamingo tattoo, dined at a restaurant in Chinatown and polished off two Peking ducks in one sitting.
“I’ve got some good tatts … I want to get Winnie the Pooh next.”
OUR FAITH IN RHYCE
Zurhaar and Nick have full faith in Shaw delivering success at Arden Street.
Shaw has been a revelation since Brad Scott’s surprise mid-season resignation last year, renewing a premiership belief in the emerging Kangaroos squad.
“We’ll get it,” Zurhaar replied to a question about the club being under extra pressure to perform to play and win finals.
“It’s just such a comfortable feel around the club … he’s always around, always there for a yarn, sometimes he won’t leave you alone because he wants to have a chat.
“It's kind of weird he’s head coach because it feels like a good mate … at the same time he knows exactly what he wants from us and he lets us know which is great.”
North has missed the finals the past three seasons and went out meekly in 2016, a 10-goal elimination final loss to Adelaide marking the end of the storied Shinboner careers of games’ record-holder Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie and Michael Firrito.
The new breed, which Shaw not only relates to but engages and excites, is just as hungry to win and perform consistently.
“He’s got a good balance between friendship (and coach),” Larkey said.
“He’s liked and respected, has got a good balance between having a laugh and knuckling down and telling you want he wants from you.”
Alongside Coleman Medal contender Ben Brown, Larkey and Zurhaar will spearhead the Kangaroos “dangerous” attack in 2020.
With recruit Aiden Bonar and draftees Lachlan Hosie, Charlie Comben and Jack Mahoney showing promise up forward in pre-season trials, there is competition for the small and medium forward minutes occupied by incumbents Tarryn Thomas, Kayne Turner, Taylor Garner and Mason Wood.
“There’s a lot of pressure in the forward line, which is great,” Zurhaar said.
“It’s pretty young, Ben Brown is the oldest forward – 26 going on to 27.”
After breakout campaigns, fourth-year pair Larkey and Zurhaar are determined to build on the experience of last season and to avoid the dreaded “second-year blues”.
“Every year every team wants to come out and make finals and win the flag,” Larkey said.
“It’s a different feel (this pre-season) to how it has been since I've been at the club and we haven't made finals in those other years.
“For me it feels better, it’s a better vibe, it can only mean better things.”
Originally published as North Melbourne aces Cameron Zurhaar and Nick Larkey open up about life away from Arden Street