Dean Laidley
Personal information
Full name	Dean Laidley
Date of birth	27 March 1967 (1967-03-27) (age 42)
Recruited from	West Perth Football Club (WAFL)
Position(s)	Back Pocket
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1987-1992 1993-1997	West Coast Kangaroos	52 (11) 99 (4)
State team honours
1988, 1996	Western Australia	2 (0)
Coaching career3
Years	Club	Games (W-L-D)
2003-2009	Kangaroos	149 (72-75-2)
1 Playing statistics to end of 1997 season . 2 State and International statistics correct as of 1996. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 2009.

Dean Laidley (born 27 March 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach. Laidley is best known for his long association as both player and coach with the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. He played in North Melbourne's 1996 premiership team and coached the club from 2003 to 2009. He is currently an assistant coach at Port Adelaide Football Club.^[1]

[edit] Early life

Dean Laidley grew up in Western Australia.

Lightly built and not considered a player blessed with the highest degree of natural talent, Laidley first played senior football at the West Perth Football Club and was recruited to be part of the West Coast Eagles' inaugural VFL squad in 1987.

[edit] VFL/AFL career

Laidley made his VFL debut for the West Coast Eagles in round 1, 1987 against the Richmond Tigers at Subiaco Oval.

As an aggressive half-back line player and known as "The Junkyard Dog", Laidley was known for his commitment to the contest and to winning the ball.

His career had a major setback during the 1990 season when he required a knee reconstruction, and he found it hard to break into the team, missing West Coast's 1992 premiership win.

At the end of 1992 he was traded to North Melbourne. A trademark of his play was the execution of the strategy of either kicking out or receiving uncontested a short kick-out to the back pocket, a strategy which was later widely adopted by other clubs.

Laidley did eventually win a premiership, in 1996 with the Kangaroos. He retired at the end of the 1997 season.

[edit] Coaching career

Following his AFL career, Laidley took up coaching, beginning with the Weston Creek team in the AFL Canberra competition.

His first AFL coaching role was with Collingwood as an assistant coach under Mick Malthouse, where he was involved in the club's 2002 AFL Grand Final loss.

As a former onfield leader with the Kangaroos, Laidley seemed a logical choice as senior coach of the Kangaroos after the resignation of Denis Pagan as coach. Laidley eventually was employed as the new senior coach of the Kangaroos for the 2003 season.

Laidley's ferocity as a player transferred into his coaching style, his team is said to embody the "Shinboner Spirit" of determination and never giving up. He is also seen on occasion to be aggressive with his players.

Laidley's vision at the Kangaroos is ensuring the club's survival and financial viability, therefore he is attempting to make sure they stay within the finals and don't perform a complete "bottoming-out" style rebuilding phase in the vein of Carlton. This approach is to ensure the Kangaroos retain membership by consistently making the finals (although not necessarily being strong enough to challenge for a premiership). Some players recruited under this approach include so-called "recycled players" Kasey Green, Jonathan Hay and Jade Rawlings.

In June 2007 in a post-victory press conference Dean Laidley advised that he had heard of a family bereavement during the match, in a comment explaining his demeanor at what should be a victorious press conference.^[2]

Laidley took North Melbourne to the finals in 2007 and at the end of 2007. His contract was due for renewal at the end of the season and the Melbourne Football Club made advances to secure him as coach^[3], however Laidley's contract with North Melbourne was renewed for two years.

He took North Melbourne to the finals again in 2008.

After a post season review in 2009 and following a string of losses, Laidley resigned as coach of North Melbourne on 16 June, 2009, one round before his 150th game as coach.^[4]

In September 2009, Laidley joined the coaching panel at AFL club Port Adelaide as an assistant to head coach Mark Williams.^[1]

[edit] Controversies

During a 2006 match against St Kilda, a Kangaroos supporter had a confrontation with Laidley during a period of consistently poor performances. The supporter twice made provocative remarks to which Laidley responded with a verbal barrage, later inviting the supporter to the club rooms to see how badly the players were feeling due to their on field performance. The footage was captured on television and broadcast nationally. The apparently fanatical Kangaroos supporter committed suicide in the path of an oncoming train on May 29.^[5] The man's family, police and the Kangaroos stated the death was unrelated to the incident with Laidley.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, former Kangaroos star Wayne Carey criticised Laidley, and has argued that another former team-mate John Longmire should replace him as coach. Laidley's contract was due for renewal at the end of 2007.^[6] After a forthright response by Laidley that referenced Carey's personal scandals, Carey responded by describing him as arrogant. On 16 June 2009 Laidley stepped down as coach explaining that he felt he could not take the group any further.^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dean Laidley's statistics from AFL Tables