DEAN Laidley's crowning glory of his six-and-a-half years as coach of North Melbourne will be the 2007 season.

The Roos made it to a preliminary final against all odds. The club lost Nathan Thompson, its most influential player, to a knee injury on the eve of that season.

Just weeks earlier high-priced recruit Jonathan Hay parted ways with the club after a disastrous 12 months at Arden St.

To suggest the Roos would score a win over glamour side Hawthorn in the first semi-final of that season with a makeshift backline and a hastily rejigged front half would have been laughed off, especially when the club had failed to win a game after three matches.

Club insiders say that top-four result had an enormous influence on the club voting against relocation to the Gold Coast.

It showed they could compete on the field no matter what was going on off-field. Most North fans will be forever grateful to Laidley and the 2007 team for that.

The North Melbourne coaching role was a tough job from the outset.

The first tasks Laidley had to perform at Arden Street were trading its greatest ever player, Wayne Carey, to Adelaide, and off-loading premiership player Byron Pickett for financial reasons.

Mending fractured relationships in the wake of the Carey saga was difficult enough but surviving on the minimum salary cap was a more pressing issue.

Such was their dire financial position, in 2004 the Roos were forced to bypass the NAB AFL Rookie Draft.

Then they found themselves shifting from their home away from home from Canberra to the Gold Coast in an effort to balance the books.

The spectre of a permanent move to the Gold Coast gathered a momentum of its own until the James Brayshaw-led board finally spurned the League's overtures in early 2008.

But through it all, Laidley kept producing competitive football sides on the park. They were finalists three times in his six full seasons at the helm and the Roos never lost the respect of the competition under Laidley.

And while he won't be remembered as the gregarious life of the party, he adapted to the conditions.

It was evident in his first season that he understood he had to embrace the media spotlight when it shone its fickle light in North's direction.

In his initial season at the helm in 2003, he was in control of two of the biggest games of the year – Carey's first game against his old club, and Jason McCartney's emotional return after surviving the Bali terrorist attack.

Laidley coached the way he played, getting the most out of his natural talents.

His courageous approach on the field was never more evident than when he stood his ground under an incoming ball in the 1996 Grand Final as the Swans' fearsome full forward Tony Lockett steamed out from the goal square.

That was at a delicate stage of the match, and will always be viewed by the Roos faithful as one of those 'critical moments' Laidley asked his own players to stand up in when he became coach.

By the time he took over from Denis Pagan at the end of North's most successful eras, he was up against it from the start. The club couldn't afford the luxuries of other clubs but they especially couldn't afford to bottom out.

The fear of death ensured that.

And it meant some questionable trades which, in hindsight, haven't worked.

Hay, Thompson and Daniel McConnell are the names that come to mind. Thompson was a great servant but last years were cruelled by injuries. Hay was a loss for North and McConnell didn't make it.

Pickett was traded for Leigh Brown and an extra draft pick – used on the unheralded Joel Perry. Pickett's 2004 Norm Smith Medal suggests the Power came out on top in that argument.

But nobody can take away that 2007 and his place in history.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.