RELATED: Grima - A career in pictures

North Melbourne retiree Nathan Grima has revealed a fearful spray from Dean Laidley played a key part in igniting his AFL career.

The rookie defender was returning from an anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction and told his teammates on Tuesday that Laidley gave him a blunt ultimatum.

Grima said Laidley highlighted his skinfolds and pointed out there was room for improvement.

“He told me, ‘If you don’t come back under your personal best, you won’t be here next year!’ Grima recalled.

“I’d just had cartilage taken out of my knee and didn’t eat for about the next six weeks.”

Fearing he’d be delisted, the then 23-year-old did everything he could to ensure he met Laidley’s conditions.

“I came back and my skins folds were under and they (the club) put me on the senior list so it was definitely worth it.”

Before being drafted by North with pick 14 in the 2008 Rookie Draft, Grima claims he’d never missed a game of footy through injury.

“It’s just been the best eight years (at North Melbourne),” Grima said.

“It didn’t start well; I did my knee in the first couple of weeks. I’ll never forget that Drewy (Drew Petrie) came out of his way with (his wife) Nicole and sat with me in hospital.

“I was pretty scared…I had a façade like I was a legend but I was pretty scared in the big city and he came and sat with me and that’s something I’ll remember. I had never played a game.”

Grima played in the VFL for Tasmania in 2005 and 2006 but despite his solid form, he was overlooked in both years’ drafts.

He made the move to South Australia to play with Central Districts and as the team’s full-back, he won a premiership and was selected in the SANFL team of the year.

“That Grand Final win is single handedly the best day of my life by a mile aside from my time here.” Grima said.

“I still talk to five or six of the boys that I played in the premiership with on a weekly basis.”

It proved to be a launching pad. His work in the back-half finally had AFL recruiters interested.

“I had a phone call from Neville Stibbard (North’s then head recruiter) but I thought it was one of the boys stitching me up. I pretty much told Nev to piss off because I was too busy celebrating.

“Someone else from the club called me afterwards and said that I might want to ring him back. I couldn’t believe what was happening because my dream since I was a kid was to play AFL. I was twenty-two and didn’t think I’d ever be good enough.

Grima’s first AFL game didn’t come until 2009 and he experienced a baptism of fire against a rampaging Geelong.

“I never felt comfortable playing AFL footy, I never thought I was good enough but from the minute I played my first game I never, ever wanted to play another VFL game,” he said.

The challenges for Grima kept coming and over the course of his eight year career, he was struck down by various injuries. He claims to have had ten operations on his knees, ankles, fingers and hands. He also battle through a stress fracture in his foot last season.

After 86 games, the 29-year-old was forced to pull the pin due to ongoing back issues.

“I’ve had two operations on my back so far and am due for another one in the coming weeks,” he explained.

“This time, I’m getting the disc fused and hopefully that’s the end of it.”

Including the 22 games missed this season and the 23 he missed in his first year in 2008, Grima’s cursed run with injury has cost him almost 100 games of football.

“I wish I could have got to a hundred games and got my name on the locker but I played 86 more than I ever thought I would,” he said.

The ultimate competitor, Grima found it tough to tell the playing group and club staff that he was retiring.

“It’s embarrassing because Glenn Archer is in the room, a three-hundred game legend, so you don’t want to overstate your career but I’m stuffed if I know where I’d be without football,” Grima said.

“Everyone in here has had a big impact on my life. When you finish up, it’s really difficult.”

There’s no doubt, North Melbourne was a better team when Grima was playing – a fact not lost on coach Brad Scott.

“At times we played him on guys that were too big for him but we knew we were gonna get an unbelievable contest,” Scott said.

“To me, he had a career of a bloke who just competed like no other, just the ultimate competitor.”

Scott said when he took over as coach of North, Grima was one player who stood out.

“Very early on I realised that we had a guy who was just ultra-competitive.

“When his body enabled him to train, he was up there easily with our best runners. I’ve still got a vivid memory of him sprinting down the straight in a two-kilometre time trial, breaking six-minutes. He was just an incredible athlete for someone his size.

“Narny’s value to this club spread much further than just on the field on game day,” Scott said.

“The life of the party, the life of the locker room, a guy you need around a football club. When you’re going through tough times, as you inevitably do … you need guys like Narny to keep the mood up and about.

“He was part of the fabric that held this football team together.”