Past #29: Brent Harvey - drafted w/ #47 in '95 ND - 432 games/518 goals for NM - AFL games record holder

[Jay-Z]

I don't do justice to the article. ..I will see if I can find it later...basically they respected him by roughing him up.

As a player i thought Chapman was a first class arseh*le.

FWIW

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...s/news-story/9251352ff7c62df4719012af01b39e5d

Brent Harvey deserves to break Michael Tuck’s games record, Paul Chapman writes

THE first time I truly appreciated the greatness of “Boomer” Harvey was in a state game in 1999 at the MCG between Victoria and South Australia.



There were all these stars running around, blokes like Matthew Lloyd, Craig Bradley, Brad Johnson, Garry Hocking, Anthony Koutoufides, Nigel Lappin and Byron Pickett, yet Boomer stood above them all.

He kicked five goals, won the E.J. Whitten medal for best afield, and made the football world sit up and take some serious notice. I have loved watching him play ever since and there were even times while playing against him when I would admire (and despise at the same time) some of the things he could do when he got off the chain.

We put a lot of time into Boomer during my Geelong years. Not only would we send Cameron Ling to him, which was the ultimate compliment, we would make sure the whole team kept him in check.

That meant if Boomer got away from Lingy someone would happily leave their man to go and stop him from getting the ball.

We would also go out of our way to smack into him and, when he was on the bottom of the pack, rub his face in the dirt. Hard.

It was designed to try and drag him down and wear him down. We liked to think we got the job done a lot of the time but he only needed five minutes to change a game.

Our intention was to give him a bloody hard day and plant some memories into his head so that next time he came out to play against us, he knew what he was in for and hopefully that put him a little behind the eight ball.

I don’t want to make it sound like we were overly dirty towards him but if we had the opportunity to crash into him then we did. It might have been an extra four or five hits for each of us individually, but it was an extra 80-odd hits for him.

That’s how influential we thought he was. It made him the first guy we wanted to stop. That it’s still happening at age 37 — and he’s 38 next month — makes him one of the more remarkable players the game has seen.

Did we hear him yap much? Not too often and for the few times he did, we knew we had him. But generally he took it on the chin and let his footy do the talking. You wouldn’t say he’s the most physical player going around but he puts his body on the line when he has to.

I can’t imagine anyone has played better than Boomer does at his age and it’s got a lot to do with the fact he has maintained his speed.

He’s also been helped by the direction the game is headed, where ball use has never been more crucial. You can’t hide behind the “press” and structures to clean up the mess of poor disposals anymore, so players who can use the ball are invaluable, particularly in the second half of games where players are getting tired and unable to do the things they did in the first half.


Could he play another year? I wouldn’t put it past him.

He will never be a Joel Selwood, who benefits others by the hard work he does in close, but that has helped him preserve his body.

If anyone deserves to break Michael Tuck’s AFL games record of 426 matches, then the two people who spring to mind are Dustin Fletcher and Boomer. I was lucky enough to get to know Fletch really well in my two years with him at Essendon and he is a great person and from what I have seen, so is Boomer.

We played for Victoria together in 2008 and I got to know him a bit then. I really enjoyed his company — he’s just an easy, down to earth personality. And that was eight years ago. The thought of playing for 20 years makes my body want to break — not just for the demands of the game but because of the hurt of pre-season and all the sacrifices you have to make to be a league player.

He has clearly taken care of his body really well. In the Adelaide game this year in Round 1 he was the difference when he hit the scoreboard at a vital time, and his two games since have been very good.

But as has happened in the past, if he has a couple of quiet games the media will be very quick to question if the game has defeated him. It will happen at some stage this year but I will back him to respond. He always has in the past. That is just the competitive beast he is.

Make no mistake, North Melbourne as a football club have been very good at prolonging his career. When he has had quiet periods over the past couple of seasons his teammates have always gone out of their way to give him the ball, even if it’s a few easy ones around the back to give him a good dose of confidence pills and make him feel he’s in the game.

That’s what good clubs do. Long may it continue so we can keep enjoying the marvel that is Boomer.

 

[Jay-Z]

Haha jinx giantroo

 

[Firestarter]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...s/news-story/9251352ff7c62df4719012af01b39e5d

Dat paywall ...

 

[giantroo]

Dat paywall ...

Copy link, open a private browser, search link in google , first link on top, you bypass the wall.

This works for any paywall crap.

 

[Firestarter]

Copy link, open a private browser, search link in google , first link on top, you bypass the wall.

This works for any paywall crap.

Thanks for overlooking me being a shit.

 

[shintemaster]

Hell, if it was a Collingwood player, they'd get 22 home games at the MCG, just to be sure.

Miserable kents.

Be fair. A lot easier to schedule an extra 4 games at one home ground...

 

[Jay-Z]

Copy link, open a private browser, search link in google , first link on top, you bypass the wall.

This works for any paywall crap.

I feel like these instructions need to be in some sort of sticky. Gets mentioned every time someone posts a link from HS

 

[Firestarter]

Then I made the terrible mistake of reading comments. Those moderator pieces of shit.

 

[giantroo]

I feel like these instructions need to be in some sort of sticky. Gets mentioned every time someone posts a link from HS

Also, if you have a paywall link from twitter, all you need is to open a private browser , paste the link and it will bypass it also.

 

[Devington]

I always respected Chapman, though didn't really overly like him.

In many ways I thought of him as Boomer with a bigger body, slightly worse footskills, and with injury issues.

 

[marklovesbeer]

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Also, if you have a paywall link from twitter, all you need is to open a private browser , paste the link and it will bypass it also.

Or open it in Incognito in Chrome.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

I always respected Chapman, though didn't really overly like him.

In many ways I thought of him as Boomer with a bigger body, slightly worse footskills, and with injury issues.

And bald.

 

[Firestarter]

Or open it in Incognito in Chrome.

Didn't work.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Didn't work.

Bugger!

 

[Firestarter]

Bugger!

That said I'm using my Android so it might work on a PC.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

That said I'm using my Android so it might work on a PC.

Yeah I find some links don't work outside of PC's.

Back to Boomer, I always thought he belonged with Duck, Stevo, Archer, Simpson, Grant, McKernan and King.
North Melbourne's big 8 of 1999-2004 (My early years of watching Football.)

 

[Boomerfan99]

So if the Shinboner of the century (or all time) was being named today. Would Boomer win it?

 

[Thewlis Dish]

I always respected Chapman, though didn't really overly like him.

In many ways I thought of him as Boomer with a bigger body, slightly worse footskills, and with injury issues.

If I could have any player from the past decade at North, Chapman during Geelong's golden era would be pretty close to the top of the list.

 

[ThePezDispenser]

Cheap ones?

We've never had a good enough midfield to give him cheap ones.

This bloke works for them!!

 

[GoNorth]

Copy link, open a private browser, search link in google , first link on top, you bypass the wall.

This works for any paywall crap.

Excuse my total lack of IT ignorance giantroo but what is a 'private browser'?

 

[Gasometer]

Pay the subscription ffs.

 

[Firestarter]

Pay the subscription ffs.

It's a shit rag. Pass.

 

[Gasometer]

It's a shit rag. Pass.

.its shit enough though for two pages of squabbling over jumping the firewall. ..and wait...I think they might even sell hard copies at servos..newsagents. ..places like that.

 

[Firestarter]

.its shit enough though for two pages of squabbling over jumping the firewall. ..and wait...I think they might even sell hard copies at servos..newsagents. ..places like that.

Five posts when a page is 20 each.