NORTH Melbourne skipper Adam Simpson says teammate Brent Harvey will finish his career as one of the club’s greats.
Harvey plays his 250th match this week against the Western Bulldogs and Simpson is hopeful the Kangaroos can continue their impressive recent record in milestone matches.
“Last year we beat the Doggies and it was Arch’s (Glenn Archer’s) 300th. We are pretty good at milestone games and getting ourselves up so this is going to be no different,” Simpson said.
“He’s won three best and fairests, he’s going to break the games record eventually and he’ll go down as one of our greatest players. The least we can do for him is have a win on the weekend.”
One man who won’t be joining Harvey in his milestone game is Alan Obst who broke his ribs and suffered a punctured lung in his debut match against West Coast at the Gold Coast last week.
Obst spent several days in a Gold Coast hospital and is unable to fly home because of complications with his broken ribs. He was due to start a 20-hour drive home today.
“It was his 21st [birthday] yesterday and he’s heading back today. A punctured lung and a few broken ribs in your first game is not the greatest memory but he’ll be okay. [It’s] not a great spot to spend your 21st,” Simpson said.
The Kangaroo skipper said he was pleased with his side’s reception at the Gold Coast Stadium, which was the first game the club had played there since announcing its intentions to stay based in Melbourne.
“It didn’t feel that bad. I watched the replay and it looks like there weren’t many there but it was half full and the atmosphere was pretty good,” he said.
“We enjoy going up there and playing there. We just didn’t want to move there.”