SHANNON Grant's indiscretion during the mid-season bye may have been the catalyst for North Melbourne's current form, says Brent Harvey.
After losing to St Kilda in round 14, the Roos have beaten Port Adelaide, Collingwood, Melbourne, the Brisbane Lions and the Western Bulldogs to sit fifth with three qualifying matches to come.
Grant sat out the win over the Power through a club-enforced suspension, but returned the following week to aid the Roos' resurrection.
However, the veteran's absence encouraged his teammates to assess their attitude and efforts needed for a charge towards the finals.
"When something so minor hits the footy club, it wasn't a huge incident but he still got suspended ... a lot of people are sitting on edge and making sure their behaviour's 100 per cent right 100 per cent of the time," Harvey said.
"It might have been a little bit of a wake-up call and certainly for Shannon, who is going to play his 300th game in hopefully a couple of weeks, he's been fantastic since then.
"We had a few sessions that weren't up to scratch and now we know what it's about and everything's been good since.
"The last five weeks we've won so it's been pretty handy."
Harvey hasn't suffered any hiccups this season as his side's stand-out player, and is in pole position for another best and fairest gong.
That influence has now extended to the competition, with his performance against the Bulldogs on Sunday encouraging betting agencies to award him outright Brownlow Medal favouritism ahead of Geelong's Gary Ablett.
"You get up, you read the papers and a little bit of hype about it, but it doesn't bother me one bit whether I'm favourite or paying 500-1," Harvey said.
"I'm about playing football in a consistent manner and trying to help North Melbourne win games. That's my main aim."
The 30-year-old collected 27 possessions and three goals against the Dogs and considers that consistency – not brilliance – may keep him from the League's top individual honour.
"I haven't played too many big games to warrant too many votes," he said. "I think a couple of games where I've played OK, we've lost. So that automatically wipes the votes off there.
"[Sunday] wasn't an outstanding game. I think I had a fairly good first half and was a little bit quieter after that. I think my consistency has been my strength this year.
"Last year I had a few more better games and this year's been more consistent."
And he jovially acknowledged that his rapport with the umpires, who award the votes, may also work against him.
"Sometimes I get frustrated when I'm getting held and stuff like that, so I tend to give them a little bit of a spray."
