Editing North Melbourne Football Club (section)

===21st century===
[[File:Kangaroos team huddle.jpg|thumb|A Kangaroos quarter-time team huddle at the MCG in 2006]]
North's dominance of the league did not continue into the 21st century. Its decade-long on-field potency was in decline, and questions were raised about its financial position and long-term sustainability. Furthermore, three of the people most important to the club's success in the 1990s left the club under acrimonious circumstances: CEO [[Greg Miller (Australian footballer)|Greg Miller]] left the club,{{Why|date=June 2023}} captain Wayne Carey left prior to the 2002 season following an extramarital affair with the wife of teammate and vice captain [[Anthony Stevens]], and coach [[Denis Pagan]] was lured to Carlton at the end of 2002. Pagan was replaced by 1996 premiership player [[Dani Laidley]], who had previously been an Assistant Coach at [[Collingwood Football Club|Collingwood]] from 1999 until the end of season 2002.
[[File:Saverio rocca.jpg|left|thumb|135px|Cult hero [[Sav Rocca]] led the goal kicking in the early 2000s.]] [[File:Andrew Swallon at Arden Street Oval (2012).jpg|right|thumb|175px| Three-time Syd Barker Medallist [[Andrew Swallow]] captained the club in the 2010s.]]
On a post-season holiday, several players were caught in the [[2002 Bali bombings]] terrorist attack, notably defender [[Jason McCartney (footballer)|Jason McCartney]], who suffered second-degree burns to over 50% of his body while carrying others to safety and nearly died during surgery after being flown back to Melbourne. In what is regarded as one of the most inspirational stories of Australian rules football and Australian sport in general, McCartney successfully returned to action on 6 June 2003 against [[Richmond Football Club|Richmond]] at Docklands Stadium. Playing at full-forward, he took a mark in the final quarter, scored a goal from the resulting set shot, and set up [[Leigh Harding]]'s winning goal with two minutes remaining. McCartney retired immediately after the game, citing that his recovery had left him spent, and he was chaired from the ground. McCartney wore the numbers "88" and "202" on the front of his long-sleeved {{not a typo|guernsey}} for the match, signifying the Australian and total number of victims of the Bali bombings, while many in the crowd bore signs reading "Bali 88/202".

Onfield, the club reached the elimination finals in 2002 and 2004.
After a top-4 finish and a preliminary final berth in 2007, and a first-round elimination final exit in 2008, North Melbourne dropped to 13th in 2009, and coach Dani Laidley announced her resignation, with Darren Crocker acting as caretaker coach for the rest of the season, to eventually be replaced by ex-Brisbane Lions premiership player and Collingwood assistant coach [[Brad Scott (Australian footballer)|Brad Scott]]. A$15&nbsp;million redevelopment of the Arden Street, which had started in 2006, was completed in 2009, giving the club top-class training facilities.