North Melbourne development coach and manager John Lamont has advised the club he will look to pursue other opportunities after spending seven years at Aegis Park.

Lamont joined the Kangaroos in 2007 and worked with then affiliate the Tasmanian Devils before taking on a role as an assistant coach in charge of the forward line under Dean Laidley.

From 2009 onwards, he continued his work developing the Roos’ youngest players, preparing them for senior football with Brad Scott at the helm.

“John has been instrumental in teaching and guiding some of our youngest and brightest stars over a long and productive period,” North Melbourne football operations manager Jon Haines said.

“He will be a great loss, but we wish him all the best and know that he’ll add tremendous value to whichever club he continues his career with.”

Lamont has worked closely with North’s current VFL aligned clubs North Ballarat and Werribee and some of his football protégés have included all-Australian squad member Todd Goldstein, the AFL’s first Sudanese-born player Majak Daw, star defender Lachlan Hansen, emerging mature-age recruit Sam Gibson and most recently, international draftee Eric Wallace.

“John’s strength is not only his ability to nurture the younger players and enhance their skill sets in readiness for the AFL, but he also helps the more experienced ones make the difficult transition back to the VFL if they’ve been omitted due to a drop in form or confidence,” Haines added.

“Time after time, John has been able to get our guys back to playing their best football, enabling them to earn recalls to the top level after stints with our VFL affiliates.”

The club will make an announcement on Lamont’s replacement in due course.