Williams, who was in Melbourne for the Brownlow Medal count, received a text from the former North Melbourne senior coach during the presentation and Laidley was confirmed as the newest member of his coaching panel soon after.
"It's brilliant, it really is a new beginning for us," Williams said after Laidley signed on for two years on Tuesday. "I was desperate to try and get Dean to come.
"We have great assistant coaches but in the scheme of trying to improve we wanted to get Dean, who has not only been an outstanding senior coach but also an outstanding assistant coach.
"He will challenge us and the way we actually play. There's a whole lot of things that are in Dean's coaching [repertoire] that aren't in ours.
"It's pretty hard to get 'junkyard dog' into your side, [but now] we've got one."
Port has recently re-signed assistants Matthew Primus and Jason Cripps, with former Power player Adam Kingsley the remaining member of Williams' support staff.
The specifics of Laidley's role, and even the title, are still to be confirmed, but in addition to traditional assistant coach duties Williams said he would be asked to act as mentor to both coaches and players and will be given plenty of room to identify and implement new strategies and innovations.
In seven seasons at North Melbourne, Laidley coached 148 matches, with his teams playing finals in three of his four completed seasons in charge.
Laidley was initially sounded out by Williams shortly after he resigned as North coach following the round 12 loss to Adelaide. He visited Port's Alberton facility a fortnight ago, with that second meeting confirming his enthusiasm for the role.
Succession plans are in vogue in the AFL at the moment with Collingwood and the Sydney Swans setting the trend, but Laidley's appointment does not fall into that category despite his publicly-stated desire to rejoin senior coaching ranks in the future.
"My first priority is to be there to support Mark and I'm sure we can learn a lot off each other," Laidley said.
"I just think it's a great opportunity. I've seen where the Port Adelaide Football Club wants to get to over the next few years and I think it's going to be really exciting.
"With me it's always been [about being] part of a team, whether you're the senior coach or part of it. My ego has never got in the way of that and it never will. I'm a pretty loyal person to whoever I work for or with and that will certainly be the case here.
"I'm going to do everything I can to put the Port Adelaide Football Club on the right path."
Williams echoed those sentiments adding that he had absolutely no problem inviting a former senior coach, who will be seen as a logical replacement in a worst-case scenario, into the fold.
Laidley's family will remain in Melbourne, at least in the short-term, with his willingness to commute between cities evidence of the size of his commitment according to Williams.
