Twenty-two points down at quarter time, North fought back to provide a contest for the next three terms only to lose by 13.
The gap was just two points early in the third.
"We're not happy," Laidley said. "We lost the game, but I was proud of the way the players took it on board and backed themselves.
"We had 11 players with under 60 games. We had nine different from our preliminary final performance and all the players that we have brought in, they are our future. I'm sure every supporter who came along would have been very proud, as I am, with the way they went about it"
However, the coach was angered by a Friday morning newspaper article that emphasised the loss of key forwards Nathan Thompson and Corey Jones through injury – indicating the Kangaroos had little hope against the Cats.
"I thought the article was pretty ordinary this morning," he said. "How many goals did Thompson and Jones kick in the finals last year? I think you should research it a bit more because I think you do our players and our supporters a disservice by writing that sort of stuff.
"It was a big stage tonight – we wanted all our supporters to come and the whole football world to come and we get served up that. I think it was pretty poor."
Laidley was reluctant to highlight individual efforts and said that ruckman David Hale's four-goal performance was expected of him.
"I'm not going to give David Hale any plaudits tonight," he said. "He played a good game of football. We have been waiting a long time for him to come . All we wanted is for him to compete aggressively and he competed aggressively tonight. Once he did that his talent came to the fore.
"It was a terrific game of football but he has been a bit inconsistent for our liking, and he needs to continue to build on that because he is a big part of our future going forward."
However, he was glowing of key position player Drew Petrie – who worked hard in all facets of his game.
"He was kicking goals, he was kicking points, he was in the ruck, he was smothering, he was down the back saving goals," Laidley noted. "I think he had one breather for the night and was super the way he goes at it.
"I think the more time that I've been in this business, the football looks after itself, and it's more about building people on the field as footballers and building their character off the field, and he is one example which I am proud of over the last five or six years and the way he goes about it now."
And Laidley was quick to dismiss suggestions that the 106-point loss to the Cats in last year's qualifying final was a spur for his side.
"This is the first time it has come out of my lips," he said. "We haven't spoken one word about it, I don't know why you would want to go back over that horrible game.
"When you have nine or 10 changes and you are a completely different team and you are going forward in the new season, I just don't think it is the right way of developing young players and young football teams."
