Selected in the rookie draft, Cam Zurhaar’s rise to become one of North Melbourne’s most important players has been impressive to say the least.

After being drafted as a powerful midfield/forward prospect, Zurhaar has made himself at home in North’s forward line, playing the bulk of his senior career as a medium-sized or key-position forward.

He played nine games across his first two seasons at the club before establishing himself as a mainstay of the side in the 2019 season where he played 19 games and kicked 28 goals.

He won North’s leading goal-kicker award in 2020, and has established himself as one of the leading young forwards in the competition, with the club now building its forward line around the partnership that has developed between him and Nick Larkey.

The forward pressure and intent to attack to football Zurhaar brings is a defining feature of North’s defensive structure in the forward half, with his aggression and willingness to get stuck into the contest often setting the defensive tone for his teammates around him.

North Melbourne debut: Round 17, 2017
Career Brownlow votes: 7

2021: Zurhaar struggled in the early part of the 2021 season, going goalless in each of his first seven games for the season and even spending some time in the backline.

He turned his form around in the second half of the season though, kicking 21 goals in 13 games to round out the season with 31 majors, finshing second in the club’s goal-kicking numbers behind only Larkey.

Missing just two games for the year, he played through a shoulder problem in the back half of the season and remained a strong contributor on the field even while injured.

He kicked three bags of four goals for the season, in Round 9 against Hawthorn, Round 16 against the Western Bulldogs and Round 21 against Richmond.

After his difficult start to the season, Zurhaar was held goalless in only one of his final 15 games of the season, kicking two or more majors in 10 of those games.

His greatest all-round performance of the season came in the Round 17 win against West Coast, where he kicked two goals and six behinds in a brilliant display of forward craft, with only his goal-kicking accuracy lacking in a near complete performance.

Heading into 2022, Zurhaar will be hoping to kick off the new campaign in the same nature he ended the last one. If he can maintain the consistent form he showed in the second half of 2021, he’ll place himself in a good position to have a career-best season.