THOUGH North Melbourne champion Shannon Grant's career ended far sooner than his teammates would have hoped, trust his legacy to live on through at least one of the club's younger players.

Grant announced his retirement in the lead-up to his 300th game, against Port Adelaide in round 22, with a heavy defeat to the Power sending the Roos north to tackle the Sydney Swans in last weekend's elimination final.

For a side that strung six straight wins from rounds 15 to 20, and looked likely to retain fourth spot and a double chance in the finals, the send-off was far from fitting as the Swans booked a semi-final date with a 35-point win.

North Melbourne now looks to 2009, without Grant as a player and, as small forward Matt Campbell suggested last week, a significant void to fill.

Confirmation of Grant's departure was a surprise for Campbell, who has worked closely with the 31-year-old since joining the Roos at the end of 2006.

"It was probably a little bit of a shock that two years I've been here now and he's giving it away now," he said.

"Maybe he thinks, or the coaching staff thinks, that we're ready to take over his role. It would be good if he does hang around in some kind of role and help us out a lot more, because I reckon we've still got a lot more to learn off him."

Grant's tutelage of Campbell and another emerging indigenous player, Lindsay Thomas, has been well-documented and senior coach Dean Laidley recently acknowledged the work the veteran also did with the Calder Cannons and the under-18 Vic Metro side this year.

"He's probably got life after footy now and I'm sure his phone's going to be running hot with people wanting Shannon Grant to be involved in their football club or to coach them or to develop them, because he's got a great eye for that sort of thing," Laidley said.

Following the loss to the Power, Campbell expressed his regret of the result with Grant in mind.

"It was obviously disappointing for someone who's given or helped me so much, to not repay him on probably the biggest day of his career," he said.

"Because we play the same role, every training session we're pretty much around each other, every meeting we go to we're in the same meeting.

"[I'm] just trying to pretty much learn what he does, not so much on the field but off the field. I've been around his house that many times now and seeing how he conducts himself with his family and his kids, it just shows how professional he is.

"I suppose you can learn something out of that, maybe one day when I get to that stage."

Campbell played 22 of North Melbourne's 23 games this season, and shared third place with Thomas in the club's goalkicking with 32.