WITH two Brownlow Medals, four St Kilda best and fairest awards, a place in the club's team of the century and 383 games to his name, it was only a matter of time before Robert Harvey was elevated into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Not that the man himself ever pondered such things.

"I've been so busy coaching at Collingwood that I hadn't really given it any thought," said Harvey, who also won three E.J. Whitten Medals after being judged best on ground in state games for Victoria.

"But when I got the phone call, it made me really take a step back and reflect a bit on when I played, which already seems so long ago," he said.

"It's just a great honour. I suppose it's really nice recognition, from my family's point of view as well."

Aside from his skill, courage and ability to break tackles, Harvey's defining trait was his penchant for working harder than his opponents.

Stories about him running 10km after training have become part of footy folklore, and it was those extra sessions that enabled him to shake off even the most persistent taggers. Experts estimated that he ran further than 20km in the majority of his games.

There were many brilliant performances during Harvey's career at the highest level, which began against the Bulldogs at the Whitten Oval in 1988, just before his 17th birthday.

His zenith came in his Brownlow Medal-winning seasons of 1997-98, during which he averaged 30 possessions per game.

The one thing missing from Harvey's football resume is a premiership. He played in one of St Kilda's more successful eras, running out in 17 finals in all. But his one Grand Final appearance ended in tears when St Kilda lost to Adelaide by 31 points.

"It will always be something that hurts," Harvey said. "But, at the end of the day, it didn't happen. You can lament, but that's the reality of the situation.

"I obviously would have loved to play in a premiership, and it does stick in my guts a bit. But you just have to move on. I still played in a lot of finals, so I still feel like I was lucky in a lot of ways," he said.

Harvey's last game was the 2008 preliminary final that the Saints lost to Hawthorn. By then he'd become the only League player to appear in 21 consecutive seasons.

"I had a really good run, and played for so long, so I don't feel like I miss playing that much," he explained.

Following his retirement, Harvey became an assistant coach at Carlton before he headed back to St Kilda in a similar role. Appointed the Saints' caretaker head coach for a short time after Ross Lyon defected to Fremantle, he departed St Kilda when it named Scott Watters to the top job.

Now 40, the father of four is the midfield coach at Collingwood. "I hope to be involved in footy for a long time yet," he said.