North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley has described Shannon Grant as the club's second-greatest match-winner of the modern era - behind only the legendary Wayne Carey - as the star goalsneak announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Grant, who will play his 300th game this weekend when the Kangaroos attempt to sew up a top-four spot by beating struggling Port Adelaide at the MCG, says he will retire at the end of the season - leaving a legacy as one of the best big game players in recent AFL history.

The 31-year-old - who began his career in Sydney and actually played for the Swans against North Melbourne in the 1996 grand final before joining the Kangaroos in 1998 - won the Norm Smith Medal for best afield in the Roos' last premiership success in 1999 and has won countless other games off his own boot in a career which has seen him kick 357 goals in 299 games and finish in the top three in the club's best-and-fairest on five occasions.

And Laidley, who played against Grant in that 1996 grand final, was the first to praise the veteran goalsneak's enormous contribution at Arden Street over the past decade.

"I have said this openly before that take Wayne Carey out of the picture and this guy sitting next to me (Grant) has won more games off his own boot (for North Melbourne) than anyone else," Laidley said on Tuesday.

"He has done everything in footy, apart from win a Brownlow Medal - and that speaks volumes for his actions on the field but also the work he has done off the field as well."

Grant admitted he has always prided himself on his ability to perform under pressure but says he is embarrassed at being compared to the great Carey - captain of the Kangaroos' Team of the Century and one of the greatest players in the history of the game - by Laidley.

"You do look back with pride (at his big game reputation) but in the same breath you get a bit embarrassed being compared to Wayne Carey as a footballer," he said.

"But it's certainly something that when you set out to play (AFL) you want to play well in the big games and you want to play finals footy and if you are not playing for that reason you might as well give the game away."

And now Grant has his sights on going out in