Nobody has experienced the ups and downs of the modern North Melbourne quite like Brent Harvey.

He debuted in the 1996 premiership season, played a key part in the 1999 triumph, won five Syd Barker Medals, was crucial in the 'Keep North South' campaign, and is continuing his near 30-year association with the club as a development coach.

From the highs of playing in a premiership, to the lows of being on the coaching staff for the club's first wooden spoon in half a century, Harvey can lay a strong claim to be 'Mr North Melbourne'. He's one of the club's all-time greats.

He was recognised for his achievements in the game on Tuesday night with an induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and he's backing the Kangaroos to return to their former glories.

"It is tough at the minute, but I said in my speech that I hope people are enjoying seeing the Kangas right now, because it won't last very long," Harvey told SEN's Dwayne's World.

We've got a rich history and we've got some great people at our football club and the Kangas will be back, I can promise you that.

"We're in a hard spot right now and in a big hole... but when we come out of it, it's going to be pretty exciting.

"We've all got work to do and that's the challenge of being part of the North Melbourne Football Club right now. There's a lot of challenges and it's good for us.

"We don't shy away from that, we're actually looking forward to every single challenge, not only on game day what people see, but the stuff during the week as well that we can control."

After learning his craft under Denis Pagan alongside the likes of current AFL senior coaches Adam Simpson and John Longmire, Harvey is one of a number of premiership Kangaroos to take the leap into the coaching side of the game.

Employed as a development coach at Arden Street, Harvey primarily works in a mentoring role with the first and second year players to help them adapt to the rigours of AFL football.

He says the club's current rebuilding path is one that's been trodden plenty of times before around the competition.

"The premiership teams, your Geelongs and Melbournes of recent times, if you go back in history five or six years before that they were on the bottom of the ladder, or second or third from the bottom. You do need to go down to go back up and I reckon we've been down now," he said.

"Some of our young boys right now, I know we haven't seen a lot of them, a couple of them have been crook, a couple of them have been injured, but there is an abundance of them and they're learning a lot," he said.

"For our supporters, don't worry too much … when they're ready to go the tide will turn, absolutely."