Player Watch #9: Luke Davies-Uniacke - signs until end 2025! Runner up in the 2022 Syd Barker Medal Award

[Shermanator]

This guy’s trajectory is spot on.

Injury problems earlier in his career, then showed glimpses of brilliance, then makes rookie mistakes like holding the ball too long in the tackle, then shows signs of brilliance, then his biggest influence on his career passes away, then shows more signs of brilliance.

He’s had a helleva lot to deal with as a 22 year old but the signs after the bye were outrageous - offensively and defensively..

Petracca is 25 years old and has put together his most consistent year yet, so LDU has a couple more preseasons to get to his level but I cannot see why he can’t- especially with all the gun mids playing around him now.

I seem to remember the pitchforks coming out for Cunners when he was 21/22 yeas old but when he eventually gained some strength & conditioning he definitely proved his draft position and then the naysayers (as Arthur Cloke would say) soon got it..

 

[RobZombie]

LDU probably still a year behind due to his OP and other issues.
Give him time and he'll go massive.
Agree with Kane he needs a big kick up the butt this offseason; similar to what Zurhaar has had.

So … a guy who was committed to his fitness to the point he overtrained and got OP needs a kick up the butt?


FMD this place sometimes.

 

[The Nostradamus]

First of many top 5 bnf finishes to come

 

[7577969923]

This is from The Mongrel Punt. A very bullish outlook on LDU in comparison to one of the established top 3 or 4 players in the league.

Restricted Content - The Mongrel Punt

Content from our archives commencing with the 2018 season is restricted to members only. Gotta look after the people that look after us. Want a peek?

themongrelpunt.com

LUKE DAVIES-UNIACKE, 22 – NORTH MELBOURNE

If North Melbourne are to start their climb up the ladder, it will be on the back of Luke Davies Uniacke becoming a superstar of the competition.

In terms of body shape, explosiveness and skill, LDU is probably the closest we’ve got amongst these five to the package that is Christian Petracca

5

Christian Petracca

Age

28

Ht

187cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.4

5star

K

9.5

4star

HB

9.8

5star

M

3.5

4star

T

3.0

5star

CL

2.5

4star

D

24.4

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

14.0

5star

M

3.5

3star

T

3.6

4star

CL

3.4

4star

D

19.0

5star

K

7.8

3star

HB

11.2

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

2.0

4star

. Both men are able to burst from the congestion and use their core strength to stand in a tackle and release. Whilst Petracca has added this pinball-quality that sees him bounce off opponents and into the clear, LDU is more of a straight line runner in the mould of Chris Judd (though those comparisons are a bit silly as well, considering the accomplishments of Judd early in his career).

If I were to pick one player that has the potential of doing what Petracca has done for the Dees, it would be LDU at North. Let’s jump to his 2021 and Petracca’s fourth year to make the stat comparison.

	Disposals	Goals	Tackles	Inside 50s	Clearances
Petracca 2019	18.68	1.00	2.95	3.64	2.32
Luke Davies-Uniacke 2021	22.00	0.30	3.20	4.15	4.50
+/-	+3.32	-0.70	+0.25	+0.71	+2.18

Now this is interesting (to a footy nerd like me).

Petracca’s weapon that he seems to have over those looking to emulate him is his ability to hit the scoreboard, but that is the only hole in LDU’s game as he gives chase to the Melbourne champ. With improvements on Petracca’s numbers in four of the five categories used for this, the future for LDU looks huge.

Maybe it is just that the comparison to Petracca caught Trac at time where his numbers dipped (this cannot be dismissed), as his 2019 season was not a patch on anything he produced in 2020/21, but Davies-Uniacke is on the right track, and if I were a betting man (I’m not… no gambling ads on our site), I wouldn’t mind backing LDU to be the player to make a huge leap in 2022.



So, what does it tell us?

As you would have read, both Luke Davies-Uniacke

9

Luke Davies-uniacke

Age

24

Ht

188cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.1

3star

K

6.5

3star

HB

6.6

4star

M

2.5

3star

T

2.2

4star

CL

2.0

4star

D

7.0

1star

K

3.0

1star

HB

4.0

3star

M

2.0

2star

T

1.0

2star

CL

2.0

4star

D

9.8

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.8

4star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

CL

1.2

4star

and Caleb Serong

3

Caleb Serong

Age

23

Ht

180cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.6

5star

CL

2.6

4star

D

13.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.0

3star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.6

4star

CL

2.6

4star

D

13.0

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.6

5star

CL

2.6

5star

seem to have the game to do what Petracca has done over the last couple of seasons. Serong is still very raw, but he has a hunger you simply cannot deny. He wants the footy and he finds it. Whether he has the power game to elevate his contested work to the level of Petracca will be interesting to follow.

LDU is the one, from where I sit. He has a power game that is complemented by finesse. If he gets a big preseason under him, this could be the year he really starts to make a big difference in the Kangaroos’ midfield.

 

[Kanga Glory]

This is from The Mongrel Punt. A very bullish outlook on LDU in comparison to one of the established top 3 or 4 players in the league.

Restricted Content - The Mongrel Punt

Content from our archives commencing with the 2018 season is restricted to members only. Gotta look after the people that look after us. Want a peek?

themongrelpunt.com

LUKE DAVIES-UNIACKE, 22 – NORTH MELBOURNE

If North Melbourne are to start their climb up the ladder, it will be on the back of Luke Davies Uniacke becoming a superstar of the competition.

In terms of body shape, explosiveness and skill, LDU is probably the closest we’ve got amongst these five to the package that is Christian Petracca. Both men are able to burst from the congestion and use their core strength to stand in a tackle and release. Whilst Petracca has added this pinball-quality that sees him bounce off opponents and into the clear, LDU is more of a straight line runner in the mould of Chris Judd (though those comparisons are a bit silly as well, considering the accomplishments of Judd early in his career).

If I were to pick one player that has the potential of doing what Petracca has done for the Dees, it would be LDU at North. Let’s jump to his 2021 and Petracca’s fourth year to make the stat comparison.

	Disposals	Goals	Tackles	Inside 50s	Clearances
Petracca 2019	18.68	1.00	2.95	3.64	2.32
Luke Davies-Uniacke 2021	22.00	0.30	3.20	4.15	4.50
+/-	+3.32	-0.70	+0.25	+0.71	+2.18

Now this is interesting (to a footy nerd like me).

Petracca’s weapon that he seems to have over those looking to emulate him is his ability to hit the scoreboard, but that is the only hole in LDU’s game as he gives chase to the Melbourne champ. With improvements on Petracca’s numbers in four of the five categories used for this, the future for LDU looks huge.

Maybe it is just that the comparison to Petracca caught Trac at time where his numbers dipped (this cannot be dismissed), as his 2019 season was not a patch on anything he produced in 2020/21, but Davies-Uniacke is on the right track, and if I were a betting man (I’m not… no gambling ads on our site), I wouldn’t mind backing LDU to be the player to make a huge leap in 2022.



So, what does it tell us?

As you would have read, both Luke Davies-Uniacke and Caleb Serong seem to have the game to do what Petracca has done over the last couple of seasons. Serong is still very raw, but he has a hunger you simply cannot deny. He wants the footy and he finds it. Whether he has the power game to elevate his contested work to the level of Petracca will be interesting to follow.

LDU is the one, from where I sit. He has a power game that is complemented by finesse. If he gets a big preseason under him, this could be the year he really starts to make a big difference in the Kangaroos’ midfield.

Petracca trained his arse off in the off season about two years ago, hopefully LDU follows suit

 

[Psicosis]

Petracca trained his arse off in the off season about two years ago, hopefully LDU follows suit

Luke (like Tarryn) has the rare mix of natural attributes to be a star. It’s going to come down to how hard he can work off-field if he’s ever going to reach his potential.

I’m not sure what his reputation as a trainer is tbh. But he should be attaching himself to Jy this preseason.

 

[DunderHead]

He does some really exciting stuff. He looks like he is building towards something really special.

 

[Devington]

Petracca trained his arse off in the off season about two years ago, hopefully LDU follows suit

Luke trained his arse off previously too, to the extent he overtrained and had issues. I have no doubt he will put serious work in. Training smarter is probably more important than training harder for him right now.

 

[Eggs11]

Like Petracca and Cunners, LDU is a power athlete. The club knows it and no one at Arden Street is panicking.

The article is legit. 2022 will be the year of LDU.

 

[Ashley B]

Can’t believe anyone has doubted this bloke was always going to be Super and the great thing is he plays for us.

 

[SpiderBurton22]

This narrative of Luke being lazy is crap.

He's had injury issues and a father who was dying. Sometimes circumstances affect your infield performances.

There's nothing to indicate he won't put in the hard yards and become a mega star.

 

[Passmore]

This narrative of Luke being lazy is crap.

He's had injury issues and a father who was dying. Sometimes circumstances affect your infield performances.

There's nothing to indicate he won't put in the hard yards and become a mega star.

Rather than being lazy, there were questions in his draft year on how much footy meant to him. I can only think that's the reason he slipped to 4. Talent wise he really should have been 1 or 2.

The kid got hurt overdoing it, so I think the work ethic questions were put to bed early.

What we've seen so far is a kid who's naturally taken time to build his endurance and strength while being hampered by injury.

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

 

[giantroo]

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

He looks POWERFUL.

 

[Eggs11]

Looks massive through the core. If he can carry that rig across the ground he’ll be impossible to tackle.

 

[El Capuano]

Mannnnnn seeing how in good nick the boys are in is getting me hyped!

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Puppy fat, GAWN

 

[Heaps of fun]

He needs to tidy up his kicking big time if he's going to go to the next level. His short kicks especially seemed to fly off the boot last season.

 

[Flawed Genius]

He needs to tidy up his kicking big time if he's going to go to the next level. His short kicks especially seemed to fly off the boot last season.

Agreed. Saw him at training last week and he missed a few sitters. Everything else is A+ gold, his kicking (especially over 20-30 metres) is a bit iffy

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Tends to over kick the footy over shorter distances, especially to a leading target which results in them running under the ball.

 

[King Corey]

This is not meant sarcastically, but has LDU played HBF in juniors?

His natural inclination to charge off and kick long would seem suited there.

(I don't want to move him out of the midfield was just a 'feel' based on his attributes)

 

[Frank Thring]

This is not meant sarcastically, but has LDU played HBF in juniors?

His natural inclination to charge off and kick long would seem suited there.

(I don't want to move him out of the midfield was just a 'feel' based on his attributes)

I found Brad Scott's handle

 

[Heaps of fun]

This is not meant sarcastically, but has LDU played HBF in juniors?

His natural inclination to charge off and kick long would seem suited there.

(I don't want to move him out of the midfield was just a 'feel' based on his attributes)

Consideration of his versatility is really valid. Our best recipe for success with so much midfield talent is that every mid should have a secondary role they can rotate or switch into. Needs to work on his set shot to spend a lot of time up forward.

 

[Heaps of fun]

Consideration of his versatility is really valid. Our best recipe for success with so much midfield talent is that every mid should have a secondary role they can rotate or switch into. Needs to work on his set shot to spend a lot of time up forward.

Apart from McDonald and a bench rotation I don't see many potential defenders in our 22 right now.

 

[King Corey]

I found Brad Scott's handle

Lol you idiot.

I know, I know. This leaves me with my guard down. But he's fast, big and bustling and a long, driving kick rather than a super precise one (a la Wells).

All traits that translate to the HB role the way David King or now Aaron Hall play it.

That said I hope beyond hope he becomes a midfield star and this notion just gets bumped everytime he plays another premiership team mid role for us.