Quietened by his Melbourne and Western Bulldogs opponents, Harvey's performance against Essendon in round four went a long way to silencing those who felt he could not carry the dual mantle as North's captain and its most important player.
One game later, and both those positions had been ripped away.
As used as Harvey was to having an impact on the field, he had also made a habit of avoiding injury – pushing his run of consecutive matches past three figures.
Not since round 19, 2004 had he missed a game, until a tendon was torn from his elbow in a tackle against Richmond in round five.
"A couple of weeks ago I noticed on the scoreboard: 100 consecutive games," he tells kangaroos.com.au. "To miss 10 or 12 weeks of footy, or whatever it's going to be, is very disappointing but I've got to think about what I want to do off the field now and how I'm going to help the footy club."
Sitting at Arden Street on Tuesday morning, his left arm in a brace he says weighs eight kilograms, Harvey is alternately disconsolate and optimistic.
"Boomer, did you see that?" calls Gavin Urquhart from the other side of the fence, screwing a ball towards goal off his left boot.
"I did, Gav. Good kick."
Harvey will work with the squad's younger players throughout his recovery, not so much in a mentoring role but to help them identify their strengths.
"I won't give them too much information because I reckon they're pretty good players," he says of Matt Campbell, returning from a hamstring injury, and fellow small forward Lindsay Thomas.
Harvey met with coach Dean Laidley on Monday after spending the second part of last week recovering from his surgery and the side-effects of painkillers.
The tendon in the dislocated elbow needed to be re-attached to the bone, while the arm will remain in the bandages, brace and sling for three weeks.
Laidley is keen for Harvey to pour his energy into Campbell, Thomas, Ben Ross and Cruize Garlett – players in similar positions – while the immediate challenge for Ross and Garlett is to break into the senior side.
"Every week I already try to sit down with at least one of the players and watch their [match] video with them," he says. "I get a lot of satisfaction out of working with the young guys and when they do well I feel really good.
"Now I don't have to worry about my preparation, I can certainly help out a lot more than what I was doing anyway."
Replacing Adam Simpson as skipper in November, Harvey led the disciplining of teammate Aaron Edwards in January, fronted the club's apology for the rubber chicken video in April and now has to watch on as North seeks to salvage its disappointing start to the season.
"Being my first year as captain, [it's hard] to just to sit on the sidelines," he says. "I'm spewing that I can't do too much. I want to go out and play this week with one arm.
"I'll just try to be as positive as I can.
"You get thrown a few challenges along the way [as captain]. It's certainly eye-opening. I didn't realise how much work you had to do behind the scenes, but it's been fantastic."
Deputy Drew Petrie has taken the reins and, with four losses from its first six rounds, North's finals prospects will become clearer as Harvey's return nears.
Little thought has gone into the arduous rehabilitation that will escalate from June, but Harvey has his sights on round 17.
"It's a little bit frustrating but I know what we're capable of," he says of North's predicament.
"Considering some of the boys and how passionate they are about their footy – it's just around the corner what we can achieve.
"I reckon we're still a big show."
