Brent Harvey

Brent Harvey (born 14 May 1978), often known by his nickname "Boomer", is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played his entire career with North Melbourne, winning a premiership 1999 and retiring in 2016 with the most games played by an individual in VFL/AFL history wth 432.

Brent Harvey
Harvey at the 2017 AFL Grand Final parade
Personal information
Full name	Brent Harvey
Nickname(s)	Boomer
Date of birth	(1978-05-14) 14 May 1978 (age 47)
Place of birth	Preston, Victoria, Australia
Original team(s)	Preston RSL (Vic)/Northern Knights
Draft	47th overall, 1995 North Melbourne
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Position(s)	Forward, Midfielder
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1996–2016	North Melbourne	432 (518)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1999, 2008	Victoria	2 (8)
International team honours
2000–2008	Australia	11 (12)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2016. 2 Representative statistics correct as of 2008.
Career highlights
North Melbourne Captain: 2009–2011 AFL premiership: 1999 4x All-Australian team: 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008 5x Syd Barker Medal: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 Herald Sun Player of the Year: 2008 2x Lou Richards Medal: 2007, 2008 North Melbourne Team of the Century E. J. Whitten Medal: 1999 Jim Stynes Medal: 2003 Captain of Australia: 2008 AFL Hall Of Fame: 2022 Most senior AFL games: 432 NAB Cup (North Melbourne): 1998 AFL Reserves Premiership (North Melbourne): 1996
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Career

Harvey was drafted by the North Melbourne Football Club in the third round of the 1995 AFL Draft, debuting during the 1996 AFL season. In 1999, he was the recipient of the E. J. Whitten Medal for being judged as the best player for Victoria in the State of Origin series. He also helped North Melbourne win the premiership with a victory over Carlton in the 1999 AFL Grand Final.

In round 22 of the 2003 season, in what was his 150th game, Harvey kicked three goals in the Kangaroos' record-breaking 124-point victory over Carlton.^[1] That year, he won his first Syd Barker Medal as North Melbourne's best and fairest, and won the Jim Stynes Medal in the International rules series.

In 2007, Harvey polled 22 votes in the Brownlow Medal, finishing equal second. In 2008, he polled 17 votes to finish in eighth place.^[2][3] He later captained Australia in the 2008 International Rules Series.^[4]

In round three of the 2010 season, Harvey led North Melbourne to a 25-point win over the West Coast Eagles with a career-best 44 disposals, along with 11 marks, six goal-scoring assists, and one goal.^[5]

In 2011, playing his 312th game, Harvey broke Glenn Archer's all-time club record for games played.^{[citation needed]}

In round 17 of the 2015 AFL season, Harvey played his 400th career game, becoming the first North Melbourne player to do so and fourth overall.^{[citation needed]}

In round 19 of the 2016 AFL season, Harvey broke Michael Tuck's record for most VFL/AFL matches by a player.^[6][7] In honour of Tuck's record, the Kangaroos wore the number 427 applied to the vertical royal-blue bars of their guernseys, and the number 50 on the 50-metre arc was replaced by 29, the number Harvey had worn for his entire AFL career.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2016, North Melbourne announced they would not renew Harvey's contract for the 2017 season.^[8] He subsequently retired at the 2016 Syd Barker Medal night. At the time of the announcement, he was the VFL/AFL all-time leader in games played, with 432. Only five other players have achieved the feat of playing 400 AFL games: Tuck, Dustin Fletcher, Kevin Bartlett, Shaun Burgoyne, and Scott Pendlebury.

Harvey holds the record for most career bounces, with 1,055. He is the only player to have crossed the thousand-bounce threshold.^[9]

In 2022, Harvey was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.^[10]

Height

Prior to the 2014 season, Harvey was listed as 167 cm. Midway through 2014, his height was updated to 172 cm, and for the 2015 season, his height was updated to 175 cm.^[11] In the 2016 season, he was listed as 177 cm.^[12]

Statistics

^[13]

Legend

G	Goals	K	Kicks	D	Disposals	T	Tackles
B	Behinds	H	Handballs	M	Marks

Season	Team	No.	Games	Totals							Averages (per game)
				G	B	K	H	D	M	T	G	B	K	H	D	M	T
1996	North Melbourne	29	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.0
1997	North Melbourne	29	17	10	8	105	54	159	26	9	0.6	0.5	6.2	3.2	9.4	1.5	0.5
1998	North Melbourne	29	23	32	20	209	89	298	44	31	1.4	0.9	9.1	3.9	13.0	1.9	1.3
1999	North Melbourne	29	23	24	14	273	112	385	66	28	1.0	0.6	11.9	4.9	16.7	2.9	1.2
2000	North Melbourne	29	25	35	32	375	160	535	107	50	1.4	1.3	15.0	6.4	21.4	4.3	2.0
2001	North Melbourne	29	20	17	19	338	172	510	75	29	0.9	1.0	16.9	8.6	25.5	3.8	1.5
2002	North Melbourne	29	20	30	12	296	133	429	65	45	1.5	0.6	14.8	6.7	21.5	3.3	2.3
2003	North Melbourne	29	21	28	20	314	137	451	94	38	1.3	1.0	15.0	6.5	21.5	4.5	1.8
2004	North Melbourne	29	21	30	13	218	117	335	71	37	1.4	0.6	10.4	5.6	16.0	3.4	1.8
2005	North Melbourne	29	23	23	17	325	188	513	108	49	1.0	0.7	14.1	8.2	22.3	4.7	2.1
2006	North Melbourne	29	22	17	11	335	195	530	121	46	0.8	0.5	15.2	8.9	24.1	5.5	2.1
2007	North Melbourne	29	25	36	17	351	243	594	116	53	1.4	0.7	14.0	9.7	23.8	4.6	2.1
2008	North Melbourne	29	23	25	19	339	230	569	110	54	1.1	0.8	14.7	10.0	24.7	4.8	2.3
2009	North Melbourne	29	15	12	8	193	142	335	62	31	0.8	0.5	12.9	9.5	22.3	4.1	2.1
2010	North Melbourne	29	22	25	22	313	234	547	92	63	1.1	1.0	14.2	10.6	24.9	4.2	2.9
2011	North Melbourne	29	22	31	25	304	188	492	80	59	1.4	1.1	13.8	8.5	22.4	3.6	2.7
2012	North Melbourne	29	23	35	9	285	235	520	99	47	1.5	0.4	12.4	10.2	22.6	4.3	2.0
2013	North Melbourne	29	16	19	9	210	175	385	75	43	1.2	0.6	13.1	10.9	24.1	4.7	2.7
2014	North Melbourne	29	22	29	20	310	249	559	106	66	1.3	0.9	14.1	11.3	25.4	4.8	3.0
2015	North Melbourne	29	25	24	15	304	266	570	74	53	1.0	0.6	12.2	10.6	22.8	3.0	2.1
2016	North Melbourne	29	23	36	24	290	206	496	98	56	1.6	0.7	12.6	9.0	21.6	4.3	2.4
Career			432	518	334	5687	3526	9213	1689	887	1.2	0.7	13.1	8.1	21.3	3.9	2.0

Honours and achievements

Brownlow Medal votes
Season	Votes
1996	0
1997	0
1998	4
1999	6
2000	14
2001	16
2002	10
2003	16
2004	3
2005	11
2006	6
2007	22
2008	17
2009	9
2010	13
2011	8
2012	4
2013	9
2014	15
2015	4
2016	4
Total	191
Key:
Red / Italics = Ineligible

• Team
  • AFL Premiership (Kangaroos): 1999
  • McClelland Trophy (North Melbourne): 1998
  • NAB Cup (North Melbourne): 1998
  • AFL Reserves Premiership (North Melbourne): 1996
• Individual
  • E. J. Whitten Medal: 1999
  • Syd Barker Medal: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 (tied with Brady Rawlings)
  • All-Australian: 2000, 2005, 2007, 2008
  • Australian Representative Honours in International Rules Football: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008 (C)
  • Jim Stynes Medal: 2003
  • Lou Richards Medal: 2007, 2008
  • Herald Sun Player of the Year: 2008
  • Archer–Hird Medal: 2009, 2011
  • North Melbourne F.C. Team of the Century
  • AFL Hall Of Fame (2022 Class)
  • Most senior AFL games: 432

Personal life

Harvey's grandfather Bill Harvey played two games for North Melbourne in 1948. His brother, Shane Harvey, played 14 games for Essendon and North Melbourne from 2002 to 2004.

In April 2023, Harvey broke his leg playing for North Heidelberg in the Northern Football League.^[14]

See also

• List of VFL/AFL players to have played 300 games
• List of VFL/AFL records