You’re about to play your 427th game, the most by any player in 120 years of football. Has it sunk in yet?
Brent Harvey: It probably got a little more real a couple of weeks ago when I was speaking with some of the other guys (in the top 10 on the AFL games list). Walking into the rooms (for a photo shoot) with all those players there and shaking hands with them, I started to get excited I must admit. Every time I’ve spoken to a reporter this year, they always refer back to breaking the record and ask, ‘Are you looking forward to it?’ So you think about it for maybe two or three minutes then, but when I go home I don’t reflect on it. My goals are so short-term – winning games and playing my part – that I haven’t got carried away with it.

What does it mean to you?
I think it’s going to mean so much more when I’ve finished my career and on the top of that list it will have my name and next to that in brackets it will say North Melbourne. The fact I’ve been a one-club player and it’s been at North Melbourne is pretty cool to me.

You have a perfect record in milestone games dating back to your 50th game …
Don’t give me the mozz (laughing).

… it would be nice to maintain that perfect record at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night?
When we run out it will be a big occasion but, like my 400th, there’s one thing in our plan and that’s to win the game of football. If we don’t do that, it will put a dampener on the whole day, not only for me but for the footy club as well.

Your first game was in round 22, 1996, against Richmond. Denis Pagan was coach, Wayne Carey captain. What are your memories of that game?
It was back in the days when players only came off the ground because they’d been dragged. I sat on the bench, I think, for the whole first quarter. I came on during the second quarter for five minutes and couldn’t get anywhere near it and was straight off. I came on for five minutes into the third quarter, didn’t get anywhere near it and straight off again. Finally I was lucky enough to get a handball on the half-back flank, which I delivered to David King. What a lot of people don’t know is my next game was also against Richmond (in round five, 1997) and my first kick in AFL was a goal, but it was in my second game. That’s a different club to be part of.

What was it like to walk into Arden St at that time?
It was daunting knowing I was going to go and train with some of the game’s best in Archer, Stevens, Carey, Martyn, Blakey, Longmire, Sholl, Crocker, Allison, Schwass, Rock, McKernan, the list just goes on. Gee whiz, it was an amazing group back then. You go there and you think, ‘Wow this is real. How far off it am I?’ Because all of those guys weighed about 100kg and looked about six-foot-six (198cm) and I was a 168cm and 64kg young boy. It was very, very daunting. 

North has won four finals over the past two years and had a 9-0 start to this season, but there are still external doubts about the club’s bona fides. Can the club win another flag before you retire?
Absolutely. I wouldn’t be playing if I didn’t think we could win the flag. I go into every game regardless of injury, form or whatever it is thinking that we can win. The day I stop thinking that is the day I need to pull the pin and retire. We’ve been hit by a few injuries of late, we’ve played some good teams in good form, but I still think we can go all the way. 

You’ve achieved a long list of individual accolades – runner-up in the 2007 Brownlow Medal, a club-record five best and fairests, four All-Australians, an E.J. Whitten Medal etc – is there one that you’re most proud of?
There is and it’s not one you’ve mentioned. It’s actually my life membership at the footy club. For me to be a one-club player – and I had some offers along the way from other clubs – and to receive life membership at the football club, that’s going to be something I’ll look back at and know how loyal I’ve been to our football club and how great the footy club’s been to me. You can’t beat that.

Brent Harvey celebrates the State of Origin victory. Picture: AFL Media

Throughout your career, you’ve been able to bounce back quickly from a poor performance. Is that something you’ve prided yourself on?
I guess the word there is pride. I’m a pretty sore loser so, if we lose and I play badly, it’s twice as bad as just losing because I know I should have played a greater role on the day. If we played on a Saturday and lost, I could have run out on the Sunday no worries and played. It was just the way I was. I was so eager to get back out there and perform for my team. 

Your durability has been remarkable. Am I right you haven’t had a soft-tissue injury in your career?
Touch wood there, yes. I’ve been very, very lucky over 21 years that I haven’t had a soft-tissue injury. I think that comes down to fairly good genes. My dad, Neil, still plays cricket now at 63 and played footy for a long, long, long time. I guess it comes down to preparation as well. I’ve never been a big drinker during the football season. I look after my body as well as I possibly can in terms of diet, sleep and that sort of stuff. If I get beaten on the weekend, it’s not because I haven’t prepared well. Denis (Pagan) used to say, ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. I’ve hung on to a lot of things Denis used to say and that was one of them. 

Have you thought about playing on next season yet?
I haven’t. It’s normally about this time of the year that I sit down and speak to Brad (Scott), but my short-term goal was to get through to the bye first and I’ve got a big moment, a big game, coming up so I think we’ll get through all of that first and then I’ll sit down with Brad and suss out what he wants me to do. It’s not just about me on an individual basis saying I want to go around again. Most importantly, I’ve got to consider what’s best for our football club. That call will come later in the year when I’ll sit down with Brad and do what we do every year. 

In terms of your body and your form this year, do you feel you can go on?
Absolutely. Like I said, I don’t think my ability has dropped off. My confidence is still really good, the mind is as sound as ever and the body feels great for this time of year. But there’s a lot of other factors that come into whether you play on or not.

How would you like to be remembered as a player?
As someone who gave his all for our football club, week in week out, regardless of the situation. I guess that’s what a Shinboner is. A true competitor with a never give-up attitude. If I’m remembered as a Shinboner that would sit really well with me. 

Tell us about your three senior coaches:
Denis Pagan: Denis was like a father figure to a lot of people. He was really hard, he was tough, he was ruthless, but I enjoyed that because that was sort of the way I got brought up by my dad as well. It was like having a second dad control everything you do. I know that doesn’t sound appealing, but it was pretty good for an 18-year-old boy to have that drilled into him.

Dean Laidley: I was captain (in 2009) with Dean there, so he showed enormous faith in me and my leadership. He taught me a lot about leadership and, tactically on game-days, he’s been as good as anyone that I’ve seen. We made a prelim against Port Adelaide in 2007, but we obviously didn’t get the ultimate success. So in the end it was a little bit disappointing, but I thoroughly enjoyed Dean’s time at the football club. 

Boomer and Dean Laidley after 2007 semi-final win. Picture: AFL Media

Brad Scott: He’s only a couple of years older than me and we’ve just got a great relationship. I can walk into his office, sit down with him and close the door and just talk. It might go for five minutes and some days it’s 45 minutes and we’re literally talking about teams, tactics, what’s going on with him. He’s brutally honest, which is something I absolutely love about him. He’s got the players’ backs, no matter who it is, and it’s been me on numerous occasions. He doesn’t care about his own reputation as long as his players are looked after and I think that’s filtering down to the players in the way that we’re playing as a team now, compared to when he first rocked up at the football club. He’s taught us so much and he’s brought so many things to our football club. When he first came, he told us he wanted to give us the best possible chance of being a successful team and he’s certainly done that.

‘BOOMER’ ON THE BIG OFF-FIELD MOMENTS DURING HIS CAREER:

Proposed merger with Fitzroy at the end of 1996: I didn’t really get involved because I wasn’t entrenched at the football club at that stage. I’d been there for 12 months, but I’d just turned 18 and had played one game. It wasn’t a long saga and when it got knocked on the head I was pretty happy.

Wayne Carey’s exit on the eve of the 2002 season: It was massive. He was our captain, he was the best player in the competition, certainly the best player at our football club, so for something like that to happen and for him to leave put a huge dampener on things. Back then, I went into every season thinking that if we had a full list and a fit list, we could go all the way. But when your best player leaves, you start questioning that ability to go all the way. So that probably set the club back a few years.

Brent Harvey and Wayne Carey played six seasons together. Picture: AFL Media

Denis Pagan’s move to Carlton at the end of 2002: That was pretty hard to take as well. Denis set the standard of how hard you had to work and the values you needed to stand by to be a long-time player. When he left, that put a big hole in the belly as well because we didn’t know who was going to come in and take over and we thought we’d lost probably the best coach in the competition.

The proposed relocation to the Gold Coast at the end of 2007: By that time I was very entrenched in the football club and actually sat down with (my then partner, now wife) Shayne and said, ‘What do we do? Do we stay in Melbourne with our friends and family or do we pack up and go play for the Kangaroos on the Gold Coast?’ That’s how serious it was getting. And it was a little bit daunting. I tried to delay those talks as much as I could, but at the end of the day it looked like it was going to become a reality. When all the stuff went down and ‘JB’ (James Brayshaw) came in and took over and all those guys started lobbying to stay at Arden St, it was a great result. If we’d become the Gold Coast Kangaroos, we’d have lost our identity. I’m just thankful for all the people who put their hands up and did the hard yards to keep us here. Hopefully we can repay those people with a nice premiership.

The opening of the new Arden St training facility in 2010: I always used to go to training with a smile on my face because I just loved what I was doing, but to go there and actually feel professional for the first time for a very, very long time and have a first-class gym and first-class facilities put a massive smile on your face. And when you rock up at the football club – I don’t know, it might have been for the first three or four months – you couldn’t actually believe you were going into something that was yours.

IN SHORT:

Favourite on-field moment?
Without a doubt, the 1999 premiership.

Toughest moment?
The 1998 Grand Final. We had the Crows on toast except for our kicking. We kicked 22 behinds, so that was an opportunity missed. It still annoys the crap out of me to be honest.

Biggest influences on your career? My coaches, Denis Pagan, Dean Laidley and Brad Scott, and Darren Crocker as a long-time senior assistant. And my parents, Neil and Debbie.

Best player you’ve seen at (a) North and (b) a rival club?
(a) Wayne Carey, ahead of Glenn Archer, Anthony Stevens and Byron Pickett.
(b) Robert Harvey.

Best teammates: Drew Petrie, Daniel Harris, Adam Simpson and Brady Rawlings are impossible to split.

Most professional player: John Blakey, just ahead of Drew Petrie.

Biggest characters at North: Stuart Cochrane, Byron Pickett, Shannon Grant, Lindsay Thomas.

THIS IS AN EDITED VERSION OF A STORY PUBLISHED IN THE ROUND 19 EDITION OF THE AFL RECORD, AVAILABLE AT ALL VENUES.