While Laidley admits “ultimate success is probably a fair way away” from the Kangaroos’ grasp at present, the seven-year coach described his time at Arden Street as a “great journey” and painted a rosy picture of the future.
Developments at the Kangaroos’ Arden Street base – scheduled to be completed by the end of this year – will see the blue-collar club’s facilities rival the best in the competition.
And the Kangaroos also boast some impressive youngsters, headed by last year’s No.9 draft pick Jack Ziebell – the man Laidley earlier this season predicted would be a “superstar”.
“I think you’ve seen in patches this year the excitement … with our young guys that we’ve been able to bring in the last three years,” Laidley said upon Tuesday’s announcement that he was resigning from his post.
“The thing about what we now have is the resources around these kids and their development and they’re popping up out of the ground.”
Laidley endured tough times during his reign at the Kangaroos – something club chairman James Brayshaw paid tribute to as he sat alongside the outgoing coach.
North Melbourne has been one of the most under-resourced clubs in the AFL during Laidley’s time in charge.
While Laidley wasn’t sure if more money would have translated to greater on-field success, he was confident the Kangaroos had taken measures to ensure they would be on a more level playing field in coming years.
“When I first started, in our first two drafts we drafted 11 kids and we only have two of those players left on the list,” he recalled.
“Now, for whatever reason they’re not here and there’s a fair bit of sadness in that … that’ll never happen again at this footy club, with things that we’ve put in place.”
Laidley said the introduction of two new teams to the AFL would make things tougher for all clubs, but he still believed there was no more exciting time to be at the club.
“The things have been put in place over the last three years are for sustained success,” he said.
“James talks about what I’ve done but I’ve got to thank Donald [McDonald] because if it wasn’t for Donald I probably would have been six-foot under at the end of 2006.
“He allowed me to actually coach and set up a lot of this stuff, so I’m very thankful for him.
“It is an exciting time for the North Melbourne Football Club. I’ve said it as a senior coach; I’ll say it as a North Melbourne member.”
Brayshaw was reluctant to talk about potential replacements – assistant Darren Crocker will take over in a caretaker role for the remainder of 2009 – but said that, with big things happening at the Kangaroos, whoever did assume the top job was a lucky man.
“The new facility is on time and on budget and will be as good as anyone’s facility and the ground is right next to it,” he said.
“So whoever comes in will inherit an amazing club on the rise.”
