In the second instalment of a five-part series, North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley speaks exclusively to kangaroos.com.au about how the club is shaping up for 2008. At the start of his sixth season at the Roos, Laidley discusses the pre-season, his coaching set-up, plans for key players and his pick for who might have a break-out year.

Can you tell us about the changes to the coaching department?
WE HAD to juggle things around a bit. Darren Bewick, who coached our forwards last year, will take on the midfield coaching job. We shared the midfield between myself and Greg Hutchison last year so it's great 'Boris' has been able to move into that role. Johnny Lamont, our part-time development coach from last year, is now the full-time forward coach and David Newett, who comes from the Tasmanian Institute of Sport, takes over as development coach. He’ll oversee our VFL players and the 17 first and second-year players we’ve got on our list now. That’s released Neil Connell to be our full-time welfare man, which is great because last year he had to juggle the welfare and development roles. We’ve also got Jona Segal, who was a part-time strength and conditioning coach last year, working with us full-time.

Do you now feel you are starting to get the off-field team together you want?
I really don’t think we’re far off considering the steps we’ve made over the past 12 months but (general manager of football operations) Donald McDonald and I have still got a few ideas we’d like to implement. Just as an example, we’ve taken a few big steps forward with our recruiting, because until 12 months ago Neville Stibbard was doing it on his own and that was a huge burden for him. Now he’s got Bryce Lewis working with him full-time but we feel we can extend our network even further. Strength and conditioning is another area we think we can improve.

In terms of the coaching staff, I’m of the belief that you don’t get someone in because you can or because everyone else is doing it – players don’t need seven different coaches telling them what to do. I reckon they need the senior coach, their development coach, strength and conditioning and maybe a psychologist. So in answer to the original question, we’re approaching where we need to be but we still have a little way to go.  

The club blooded quite a few youngsters last year. Can fans expect to see the same this year?
We had about eight or so players make their debut in 2007 but we wouldn’t expect to match that in 2008 unless we have injuries. Thinking about it now, I think we might see about three or four, but that can change as the year goes on.

Much was made last season about how different the pre-season was from 2006. Has it changed again this pre-season?
Firstly, it’s shorter by about two or three weeks but we still brought them back a little bit early, meaning the guys didn’t have their full allotment of time off. That was mainly so they didn’t lose a lot of the gains they made over last year. So prior to Christmas we did a hell of a lot of running and a little bit of football. We think we’ve improved greatly on the players’ times and shape and weight from where they were last year so the gains will have been increased again. We’ve certainly individualised and measured almost to the minute for each individual but it’s safe to simply say they’ve trained very hard again.

What’s the expectation of Nathan Thompson this year?
Since the last time Thommo played – and he played the whole pre-season last year – I’ve asked him to change the way he plays a little bit. I've set no expectation on him; coming back from a knee reconstruction is a very tough gig. If he can kick 25 to 35 goals over the whole year, we’ll be absolutely over the moon. We don’t need to put any burden on him next year; he’s got to get through this period of playing week-in and week-out again, which is pretty tough. He’ll have some great support around him; Aaron Edwards showed some great signs last year, Corey Jones really matured as a player and Drew Petrie can still go forward, so we are conscious of not making it the ‘Nathan Thompson show’.

With Thompson out last year, you must have been torn with what to do with Drew Petrie from week to week. All going well with Nathan, what plans do you have for Drew?
At this stage we think Drew will mainly play back, but we made all of those plans last year and that got thrown into chaos, so we have to remain flexible.

Have you sat down and put down on paper what you think your best 22 for the start of the year might be?
It’s interesting you ask that. Last night I was sitting at home doing some work and the last thing I did was pick a team for the first NAB Cup game. We play 26 players in those matches so I picked a side based on form, who we’ve brought in, who I’d like to have a look at, and knowing that a couple of players might not be ready to play. As a coach, you always sit down over the summer and put a prospective side down on paper.

One of the real pluses from 2007 was the emergence of Jesse Smith. Will he spend more time in the midfield in 2008?
That was our plan but that's been thrown a bit into doubt at the moment. His ankle probably isn't in the best shape right now and he hasn't been on the track for about six weeks. He did most of the work before Christmas but I'm not sure if he's going to have that fitness base required to play in the midfield, at least early in the season. But we don't want to rush him. We saw last year how important a player he can be so we're not going to put any pressure on him to come back early or before he's pain free. He's still doing a lot of cross-training and he's very fit but we just want to make sure he's completely pain free before we throw him back into it.

Which player looks like he might follow in the footsteps of someone like Jesse in having a breakout year in 2008?
Of the guys we've brought in, Robbie Tarrant, Scott Thompson, Josh Smith and perhaps Levi Greenwood might have an immediate impact. Straight away they have attracted the attention of the other players and that gives you a good indication of how they are travelling. Of the guys who were already here, you look at the hype around Chris Judd when he ran a 10.30 around Princes Park, well Lachie Hansen did it in 10.36. He's nearly 6'6 and is just 19-years-old. Whether he's ready to play a key position, who knows at this stage, but he looks to have improved since last year.

Benny Ross, Matty Campbell and Lindsay Thomas have also taken their fitness to another level. If one of our ruckman fell over, you'd be happy to play Todd Goldstein as a back-up ruckman. Then there's Gav Urquhart, who has improved his condition and his body enormously from last season. That's all been very encouraging.

The club appears to have gone tall in this year's national and rookie drafts. Is that by design or is that just how the cards fell?
It was pretty much how the cards fell. When we go into a recruiting meeting, Neville will show me his 50 best players and he'll tell us which 10 players he thinks will be available at our selections and I'll have a look at them and I'll put my two bob in, but he'll make the decision. That's why you have a recruiting man – you don't want the senior coach coming over the top of him when he's been watching these kids for three or four years.