Syd Barker Medal: Brent Harvey
Brent Harvey and Shannon Grant IV'sTWO YEARS, two best and fairest awards.
However, North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey would swap individual accolade for team success in a heartbeat.
Almost four weeks after the Roos lost an elimination final to the Sydney Swans, Harvey and his teammates are still hurting.
And it seems the pain won’t go away until the side has a chance to make amends for their exit.
“The last two years have been really disappointing in the way we’ve finished off,” Harvey said from the Syd Barker Medal count on Friday night.
“We’ve been pretty good through the year … but the way we’ve bailed out of the last two finals series is not North Melbourne and we’ve got to rectify that. Next year, hopefully we make the top eight and get another crack at it.
“We play footy not to win best and fairests, not to win All-Australian honours, not to win the Brownlow, but to play in premierships. To play in one final this year was really disappointing for us and we’re probably a little bit better than that.”
But on an evening where Harvey entrenched his name among North Melbourne greats, joining Noel Teasdale, David Dench and Wayne Carey as the only players to have won four Syd Barker Medals, he found reasons to celebrate.
“I thought this was probably my most consistent year, which was fantastic because that’s the goal I set at the start of the year – to be consistent,” he said. “But I didn’t think it (the evening) was going to be about me.
“Early on, Drew Petrie had a fantastic year and Adam Simpson, before he got injured, probably set the benchmark for us. I came here thinking I should finish in the top three or four maybe, [so] to walk away with my fourth best and fairest was a huge honour.
“I don’t really look at the little individual things you win along the way. I’ll look at the premiership that I’ve won and hopefully at a premiership that I’m going to win. At the end of my career, I’ll look back on it and all these things will add up.”
Harvey (759 votes) won from key position player Petrie (731), onballer Brady Rawlings (671) and ruck-forward David Hale (670) to conclude a year that also welcomed his 250th game, Brownlow Medal favouritism and All-Australian selection.
He was the only Roo to earn a place in the honorary side after Petrie and defender Daniel Pratt made the initial 40-man squad.
While Harvey has joined an elite group in adding to his 2003, 2005 and 2007 titles, exclusive company comes with playing every game of a season and winning a club champion award at this stage of his career.
“I am 30 but I’ve got two young kids, four and two, and they muck around with me more than I’ve ever mucked around in my life,” he said.
“I feel like I’m 25 or 26 years old and I think that’s a good thing, because mentally you need to be at that sort of stage to play good footy.
“My body feels good, so I figure my best footy is hopefully still ahead of me.”
