Playing one AFL game is a great achievement, but 400 is out of this world.
To fully appreciate the significance of Brent Harvey’s upcoming milestone, you have to look at the numbers.
North Melbourne
North has had a total of 989 representatives at VFL/AFL level since its inception into the league in 1925.
Of those:
- 121 have played 100 games or more. 26 have played 200 games or more. Four have played 300 games or more (Schimmelbusch, Simpson, Archer, Harvey)
- No player has topped Harvey’s effort of playing for 20 seasons in North colours. Glenn Archer, John Dugdale, Anthony Stevens and David Dench each played 16.
- Harvey and Drew Petrie hold the record for the most games as teammates with 260 – a mark that sees them 17th all-time in the league’s history.
- 162 players have lined up with Harvey across 20 seasons.
- Only Syd Barker played at an older age than Harvey, 39 years and 239 days in 1927.
On Friday night, Harvey lined up at 37 years and 64 days old.
- No player has played in more wins than Brent Harvey (216). Wayne Schimmelbusch (186) and Glenn Archer (183) are next on the list.
- Only six players have kicked 400 goals or more. Of those, five were permanent forwards, with Harvey spending much of his career through the midfield.
Wayne Carey (671 goals), John Longmire (511), Jock Spencer (475), Malcolm Blight (444) and Sel Murray (411) surround Harvey (466).
- Only Harvey has managed to win five Syd Barker Medals as the club’s best and fairest player.
AFL
More than 12,000 players have represented clubs in the VFL/AFL since it began in 1897.
Of those:
- Only 520 have played 200 games or more. Only 70 have played 300 games or more. Just three, becoming four on Saturday night have played 400 (Michael Tuck, Kevin Bartlett, Dustin Fletcher, Harvey).
- Only 19 players have represented their club at an older age than Harvey. Viv Cumberland (43 years, 50 days) holds the all-time record, set in 1920.
- Just eight have played in more wins than Harvey (216), with Tuck the lone player with 302.
- 15 current players have played in more finals than Harvey (20), with Shaun Burgoyne leading the way (27).
- Only 10 players have had longer careers (first game to last game) than Harvey (18 years, 319 days), with Fletcher at the top of the list (22 years, 58 days).
- Only 373 players have kicked 200 or more goals. Only 174 have kicked 300 or more. Only 89 have kicked 400 or more.
Just 62 players sit ahead of Harvey (466) on the all-time list, almost all of them classified as full-time forwards.
- Just six players have registered over 8,000 disposals throughout their career (Robert Harvey, Bartlett, Craig Bradley, Harvey, Tuck, Scott West).
Harvey sits fourth on the list (8,506) with Bradley (8,776) in his sights.
Only 19 players have had more 30-disposal games in their career than Harvey (57).
- Three players (Chris Judd, Gary Ablett junior, R.Harvey) sit above Harvey (41) for three-vote Brownlow performances.
Only six players have polled more career Brownlow votes than Harvey (183), with former Bulldog and Kangaroo Gary Dempsey (246) leading the way.
