The Fremantle Dockers fought back from a 17-point final quarter deficit to run over a depleted Lions outfit.
While Harvey was pleased to be taking the four premiership points back to Perth, he was less than satisfied with his team’s performance but full of praise for the opposition who finished the match with just one fit player on the bench.
"I thought the Brisbane Lions were fantastic tonight the way they fought the game out under a lot of duress, a lot of injures," he said.
"The reality is sometimes you win a game when you shouldn't. To our blokes' credit, when you're travelling on the road, it's the biggest trip, we hung in there and we showed some character.
"A lot didn't go right for Brisbane, so if it's the one we got away with, that's how I would rank it. [But] it's the second time we've won here in two years so it's significant."
Harvey said Freo had a lot of senior players down in the first half and thought that mid way through the final quarter they could not dig their way out.
He paid special tribute to David Mundy and Stephen Hill for running the game out strongly, while also rating the games of Nick Suban and Nathan Fyfe.
"They got about three goals up and I thought time was running out.
"There was a lot of players cramping on both sides and they had a lot of momentum. There was a stage when I just thought we weren't clean enough to get back into the game," he said.
"It was a tough night. It was slippery conditions, it was a hard, tough game. It might not have been the greatest spectacle but it drew everything out of everyone."
Harvey said injured Matt DeBoer, Garrick Ibbotson and Alex Silvagni could come into selection calculations next week.
