Player Watch #20: Nick 'Souva' Larkey - kicks 5 vs Essendon, then 6 vs Richmond, then 9 vs GCS to finish with 71 for '23 - 2023 All Australian - Congrats Souv!

His kicking style changes at longer distance and not so accurate then. When he is closer he nails it most times.

Like the way he is going so far. Played well on a great defender in a side that scored low.

Imagine when our team is more mature. he has more size and strength and better delivery to him; how many goals he will be on the end of.
I'm not even talking about accuracy - just can't kick distance - well, 40 metres. Consistently falls short. Hope the club is getting some work into him because it is an issue.
 
Very good game today and competed so well. But WTF is this inability to make the distance from 40 out? Consistently can't kick 40.
I think its cos his technique is focused on accuracy not distance. He seems to be able to boot it when he is field kicking.
 
The reason his set shots aren’t consistent in distance is because the amount of movement the ball has in his run up, you can’t guarantee the ball will drop vertical. Example:
IMG_6238.JPG


Therefore the ball might be flatter and when his foot comes in to kick it not getting enough penetration on the ball


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SammyRoo

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Aug 15, 2020
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Being the games most accurate kick for the last 50yrs I personally hope he doesn’t change too much or listen to anyone re:kicking !

I’m sure he’ll find an extra 10m without losing accuracy as his career progress

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kangaroo7

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Mar 17, 2002
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kangaroo7

Was the great Noel Teasdale a shizen kick?

View attachment 1159274


Certainly not a recognised goalkicker. Don't recall much about his kicking but he did play in defence more than other resting ruckmen. John Ibrahim had a most unusual kicking style which commentators always noted. His ratio is marginally better than Teasdale's as he played half-forward when not roving.
 
Apr 24, 2013
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Certainly not a recognised goalkicker. Don't recall much about his kicking but he did play in defence more than other resting ruckmen. John Ibrahim had a most unusual kicking style which commentators always noted. His ratio is marginally better than Teasdale's as he played half-forward when not roving.


I get the impression from the old timers that Teasdale was the quintessential "scrapper"

A footballer still has to be a very player to win 4 x B&F's, no matter who they played for.
 
Apr 24, 2013
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Played like Drewy last night. Loved it.

If he had held a few more of those marks and kicked truly, then he would have given an AA full back a touch up and trumpeted his arrival to the entire competition.

Like a few others, he's "almost" there.
 
Mar 25, 2002
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I'm not even talking about accuracy - just can't kick distance - well, 40 metres. Consistently falls short.

He has lost depth in his kicking since he was playing in the VFL.
I think its cos his technique is focused on accuracy not distance. He seems to be able to boot it when he is field kicking.

He is 'poking' at the ball rather than kicking through when shooting for goal. As far as I can tell, this is relatively recent i.e. this season.

I think he has the 'yips' to some extent as every other time he kicks right through
 
Apr 24, 2013
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He is 'poking' at the ball rather than kicking through when shooting for goal. As far as I can tell, this is relatively recent i.e. this season.

I think he has the 'yips' to some extent as every other time he kicks right through

He has never been a long kick, but I have seen him bang them through from 45 in the VFL.

Stamped

 
Jun 4, 2013
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It helps when he gets a go at more one v ones
That and he's been getting it on the end of a few leads recently too. The teamwork down there was pure shizen for the first 8 or so rounds but something is clicking suddenly. IMO it's correlating with Zurharr's form turnaround and I suspect a large part of the change is because he's moving more and no longer drawing his own defender to the contest. A lot less of Zurharr's knee in Larkey's back is probably helping too. They're partnering well right now!
 
Apr 24, 2013
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There's no doubt the extra tall down there has helped him.

Campbell & Xerri came in after round 3 and Nick started doing less rucking (wtf were they even thinking with that?)

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Jun 4, 2013
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There's no doubt the extra tall down there has helped him.

Campbell & Xerri came in after round 3 and Nick started doing less rucking (wtf were they even thinking with that?)

View attachment 1159415
I still don't know why they were trying to get him in the ruck when he hadn't yet began to truly own his current role as the number one KPF. Save that s**t for when he's comfortable in the role, or better yet do what we are now and just have a true ruck/forward in the team.
 
Feb 11, 2013
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It only just occurred to me that IF Charlie Comben comes good and IF Jacob Edwards comes good and IF they can all function together..

.. THEN .. Nick Larkey at 198cm becomes the 3rd forward.
I like the logic but Larkey won the frosty as a 19 year old… these guys have a got to get on the park first..

I also suspect we’re also going to see a Charlie Dixon like body transformation when Larkey hits that 25 year old age group… with a nasty streak that he developed from playing one out this year, boys will create a monster..
 

koshari

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keep in mind ben brown made his senior debut at 22 years old, larkey is 23 so is development wise not far from where brown debuted. last year in a trainwreck season he kicked 18 goals, ben kicked 18 at the first yer and comparative age, ben then didnt really peak till 2017 when he got to the 60s, so larkey isnt really tracking to bad at all.
 

koshari

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Makes a difference when the ball is kicked to his advantage, rather than on top of his head when almost always outnumbered by opposition defenders.

When quality of F50 entries increases, so will his mark and goal tallies.
true, but also souva has dropped a couple of pretty nice passes as well. i dont buy that he is being starved of opportunities.
 
Feb 11, 2013
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keep in mind ben brown made his senior debut at 22 years old, larkey is 23 so is development wise not far from where brown debuted. last year in a trainwreck season he kicked 18 goals, ben kicked 18 at the first yer and comparative age, ben then didnt really peak till 2017 when he got to the 60s, so larkey isnt really tracking to bad at all.
I agree with this, and at times he just looks like a kid playing a mans game..
he’ll stack on a couple of kilos and be able to win those one on one drills.
 
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I agree with this, and at times he just looks like a kid playing a mans game..
he’ll stack on a couple of kilos and be able to win those one on one drills.

It's that same synergy situation much discussed too. At the moment there's nobody else demanding a key defensive minder down there.

Campbell did a decent job as a pinch-hitter but Xerri has barely fired a shot yet and IMO is still a workhorse ruckman who can be a bit of an opportunist up forward but lacks real forward craft.

If Edwards or Comben can get down there and seize a few opportunities in the next few years then Larkey can use his ability to cover ground better.

Come to think of it Larkey is pretty much a Ben Brown style of player and needs his own Drew Petrie and/or Jarrad Waite in the forward line for him to thrive.
 
Jan 23, 2019
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It's that same synergy situation much discussed too. At the moment there's nobody else demanding a key defensive minder down there.

Campbell did a decent job as a pinch-hitter but Xerri has barely fired a shot yet and IMO is still a workhorse ruckman who can be a bit of an opportunist up forward but lacks real forward craft.

If Edwards or Comben can get down there and seize a few opportunities in the next few years then Larkey can use his ability to cover ground better.

Come to think of it Larkey is pretty much a Ben Brown style of player and needs his own Drew Petrie and/or Jarrad Waite in the forward line for him to thrive.

Agree with most, Larkey needs to put on some size over the pre season. And as you state it will be Comben/ Edwards as the other KPF in the future. Xerri's best hope is as a heavy lifting ruck.
 
Feb 11, 2013
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It's that same synergy situation much discussed too. At the moment there's nobody else demanding a key defensive minder down there.

Campbell did a decent job as a pinch-hitter but Xerri has barely fired a shot yet and IMO is still a workhorse ruckman who can be a bit of an opportunist up forward but lacks real forward craft.

If Edwards or Comben can get down there and seize a few opportunities in the next few years then Larkey can use his ability to cover ground better.

Come to think of it Larkey is pretty much a Ben Brown style of player and needs his own Drew Petrie and/or Jarrad Waite in the forward line for him to thrive.
I don’t see Larkey working his opponent over like Brown, doesn’t do those 150m leads up and back.
to me he seems like a traditional full forward like Lloyd, for him to be successful he needs one of two things, space to lead into or the strength to be able to take on defenders..

if we get another key forward, working together, he’ll get the space..

But something he personally can control is the size/strength.
 
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