Brent ‘Boomer’ Harvey is a divisive figure in the AFL world. So often he finds himself the victim of boos and taunts from the crowd.
He is often lambasted by opposition fans, labeled selfish and recently (and most perplexingly) a flat-track bully.
The man is a 364-game player and is showing no signs of slowing down, so no doubt he’ll be significant in the history books. But how will the history books remember him?
The strange thing about Harvey is that he remains, arguably, North Melbourne’s best player (Scott Thompson or Andrew Swallow may disagree).
This is no indictment on North either, Harvey would slot into every team in the AFL. At the age of 36, he is still one of the best players in the whole competition.
It was however, an unlikely career. Way back in 1995 he was picked with the second last pick of the National Draft. Although National Drafts were still a relatively new concept and clubs were still getting used to how to use them, there was a feeling among the coaching hierarchy at Arden Street that they had wasted a pick.
Coach Denis Pagan harboured doubts, “He was tiny and at that stage somebody said to me he’s smaller than (jockey) Darren Gauci,” Pagan recalled.
Look back at some early pictures of Brent Harvey’s career and you’ll understand the doubts. He was 168cm and weighed just 65 kg.
Harvey made his debut in Round 22 of the 1996 season coming off the bench but getting just one touch in front of 61,740 people at the MCG.
There are so many players in AFL history to be drafted, play a couple of games and then ultimately be de-listed pretty quickly. Harvey was a speculative pick for a club who were far more focussed on the immediate task of winning flags.
No-one expected Harvey to achieve anything.
“No one really said that to me. I guess there were rumours around when I got drafted but I guess the average (AFL) life span is four years…” said Harvey in 2008.
As North’s senior team won the 1996 centenary year flag, Harvey won the reserves premiership.
1997 was the year Harvey broke into the team playing 19 games including the preliminary final loss to St Kilda. His namesake and incidentally another player famed for his longevity, Robert Harvey, picked up 34 disposals and a goal.
By 1999 Harvey was turning heads, he won the last awarded E.J. Whitten Medal for his five goal haul against the South Australia in a State of Origin call up. In 1999 he also won his first and only premiership, collecting 21 disposals in the grand final against Carlton.
In 2000 at the age of 22, he made the All-Australian team for the first time, followed by a selection for the International Rules side to play against Ireland. He would play in a further five series picking up a Jim Stynes medal (best in the series) and culminating in captaining his country in 2008.
Remember that this was international rules at it’s height, when it was respected and garnered actual interest from the public.
He made the All-Australian team on four separate occasions in the 2000s.
What he never won was a Brownlow Medal. He came very close though, in 2007 he was runner up, missing out to Jimmy Bartel by seven votes.
In 2008 he won all sorts of player of the season awards for Channel Nine and The Herald Sun and went into the night as outright favourite, but ended up coming a disappointing eighth. The eventual winner was Adam Cooney.
Harvey is 13th on the all-time Brownlow votes count. He is the fourth highest ranked player to never win a medal, along with the likes of Sam Mitchell, Scott West and Leigh Matthews.
He’s kicked 453 goals, had 4813 kicks, he’s given away 228 free kicks and milked 332. He’s even had one career hit out!
He’s had at least 906 bounces in his career, (it would be more as that statistic has only been collected since 1999). Surely no player has bounced the ball more times than Boomer Harvey?
And the man just doesn’t stop playing.
He’s played 364 AFL Premierships, including 18 finals and two grand finals.
But if we add State of Origin games, night premierships/NAB Cup etc games, and international rules games his total comes to 415.
He will add to this total. He has the advantage (due to his playing style) of being able to finish his career in the pocket as a goal sneak, or perhaps as an impact sub.
He has many faults. Defensively he’s never been particularly disciplined, his leadership has sometimes failed and he can be selfish when his eyes light up for a goal. But he does not receive the plaudits and accolades from the media which he deserves.
In fact all anyone can really say about him is that he’s small and old. Crowds boo him. I think its partially because crowds just like to boo and partially because of the AFL fans inexplicable hatred for small forwards (unless they are in their team of course).
So where does he stand among the greatest players?
Certainly he doesn’t hold a candle to the likes of the Abletts, Matthews and Careys.
Does he fit in the next rung down or lower still? How will history judge Boomer Harvey?
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