Kangaroos great Jack Ziebell says he will retire knowing he gave all he had to the club.

A true Shinboner since being selected by North Melbourne with the ninth pick of the 2008 draft, Ziebell emotionally revealed to his teammates and staff members on Friday morning that his 15th year at Arden Street would be his last.

The hardened defender will be available for selection over the final month of home-and-away games before hanging up the boots when the 2023 season ends.

"I wouldn’t change anything about my career, except for maybe playing in a few more finals," Ziebell told reporters at Arden Street on Friday afternoon.

"But outside of that, I tried my hardest in every game that I played. I tried to be the best teammate I could be, and hopefully (I) made the North Melbourne supporters and members proud.

"I can rest on my pillow after making this decision and sleep well knowing that I've given it my all.

Ziebell nominated the back-to-back preliminary finals the club played in 2014-15 as the pinnacle of his playing career.

"Make no mistake, we're all here to play in big games and win silverware, and unfortunately I didn’t quite get there," he said.

"But I left no stone unturned and that's footy. We all can't reach the highest peaks of every mountain. I've enjoyed my time in the game without winning a flag."

Although the past few years have been challenging for Ziebell and the Kangaroos, the 276-gamer is confident the club will return to the top of the competition in due course.

"We've got some very good people in the football club running the program as we speak, we've got some elite talent as well," he said.

"It's probably not going to happen overnight, but in the next two, three, four, five years, I think North Melbourne will get back to where it belongs … There will be no doubt I'll be watching on as an avid fan, probably with a beer in hand, having a little chuckle and a smile because of the heavy lifting we've done over the last three or four years to get the club in the position it is to be able to launch now."

Despite developing into a Shinboner personified, the club great recalled knowing very little about North Melbourne before walking through the club's doors over a decade ago.

"When I got drafted, I reckon I knew maybe three or four players. Adam Simpson, Boomer Harvey, Daniel Pratt, Drew Petrie, and that was about it," he smiled.

"When I got into the footy club, the old social club rooms were our gym. There was no heating, no cooling. When it rained we had to put buckets under lights.

"There was a big beehive in the side of the wall that one of the boys went through during a boxing session and all the bees came out and we had to leave the gym. The facilities weren’t too dissimilar to the Wodonga Bulldogs which was my local club growing up.

"North Melbourne is like a country football club so I fitted in really quickly, and for me it was about paying the club back.

"They didn't have to choose me in the draft, they didn't have to give me the opportunity but they did … and the ability to now finish as a one-club player is something really important to me.