WHEN Brent Harvey first walked into North Melbourne's changerooms in late 1995, Glenn Archer mistook him for a "four-foot tall, 14-year-old kid" seeking autographs.

About nine months later, Harvey made his AFL debut, racking up one handball in 15 minutes of game time, during North's round 22 victory over Richmond at the MCG.

Now, nearly 16 years later, Harvey is on the verge of equalling Archer's Kangaroos games record. He will do so against Adelaide at Etihad Stadium this Sunday, when he runs onto the field for the 311th time.

Harvey and Archer were teammates from 1996 until Archer's retirement at the end of 2007.

In 12 seasons, they played 197 games together, sharing in the latter half of North's golden '90s era, including the 1999 premiership, and a subsequent leaner period, in which finals appearances were less frequent and too often ended in thrashings.

The pair is as close to North Melbourne 'royalty' as you will get. Archer, the defender whose courage time and time again put his body in the path of oncoming football tanks like Tony Lockett. Harvey, the explosive midfielder/forward with a trick bag full of feints, baulks, blind turns and snapshots.       

Between them they have been selected in seven All Australian teams - Archer three and Harvey four - while Archer wears the 'Shinboner of the Century' crown and Harvey owns a club-record five best and fairest awards.

They came together at Aegis Park on Thursday afternoon to discuss the games record they would share, even if - as seems likely - only for a week.

They walked into North's media centre along with Kangaroos coach Brad Scott - all three wearing club hoodies - to face a waiting media throng of close to 40 people.

Harvey spoke first of how humbling it would be to join Archer atop North's list of 300-game players that also includes former captains Wayne Schimmelbusch and Adam Simpson (both 306 games).

"It's a pretty impressive list … I feel honoured to be there," Harvey said.

Not that this will stop Harvey from continuing on to break Archer's record, something he will do next Saturday night against the Gold Coast Suns, fitness permitting.

A reporter asked him tongue in check whether he had considered doing a 'Mark Taylor' (the former Australian cricket captain who in 1998 against Pakistan declared when he was 334 not out, ensuring he equalled, but did not break, Don Bradman's then-record for Australia's highest Test score).

Essentially, he was asking whether Harvey had considered retiring after Saturday's game to ensure he finished equal with Archer on 311 games.

Quick as a flash, Archer interjected: "That's a good idea."

It cracked the room up, including Harvey, but, unfortunately for Archer, the North skipper was adamant he will, at least, play out this season.

Archer, himself, seemed genuinely chuffed it would be Harvey who broke his record. He said Wayne Carey stood out as the greatest North player ever, but Harvey sat "right at the top" of the group beneath him, which also included the likes of Brownlow medallists Malcolm Blight and Keith Greig.

"If someone of his ilk is going to take over the record …  there's no better person," Archer said.

Archer said what set Harvey apart as a player was his professionalism, dedication to training, never-say-die attitude on the field and his ability to run taggers into the ground.

Scott may be Harvey's coach now but, as an ex-Hawthorn and Brisbane Lions player, he was a former opponent.

Scott was quick to point out he had never played directly on Harvey.

"Fortunately, I wasn't given that task. I had to play on the players that were a little slower than 'Boomer' [Harvey]," Scott said.

At this point, Harvey pounced like he does on crumbs near goal. "He whacked me once," he interjected.

"That I could do, I couldn't catch you though," Scott said. 

After the laughter in the room had died down, Scott said as an opposition player he had admired Harvey's "flashy" match-winning ability. But he said since he had taken over as North coach at the end of 2009 his admiration had grown.  

"His professionalism is second to none," Scott said.

"I like to think I played with some players who were as professional as anyone going around and Boomer is certainly on par with the very best I've played with in that area."

"It's the things behind closed doors that generally the public don't see that have impressed me the most. He's an outstanding worker, [has] a terrific team ethic and really makes others around him better.

"And that's really what you want a captain to do."

Inevitably, Dermott Brereton's recent characterisation of Harvey as a "selfish" player was raised.

Last Saturday, the former Hawthorn champion told SEN Harvey preferred to kick goals himself rather than giving the ball off to teammates in better positions, questioning the message this sent to North's youngsters.

Harvey and Scott had previously dismissed Brereton's comments publicly, and both said they'd also phoned him to discuss the matter.

Harvey said he had no problem with Brereton having an opinion on him as a player, but strongly rejected the suggestion he would leave a "bad legacy" at the club.

"I’ve had 100 clips across the head and I’ll take 100 more before I finish," Harvey said.
 
"[But to suggest I will be] leaving behind a selfish legacy is 100 per cent incorrect."
 
Archer also passionately took up Harvey's defence.

"It is frustrating. Dermie has seen one clip that to him makes [Harvey] look selfish, but you can’t brand someone’s 16-year career, which could be a 20-year career, with something completely false," Archer said.

In good news for North supporters, Scott said he saw no reason to impose an end date on Harvey's career, provided he could continue to train hard.

"Potentially, we write off our champions a bit too early," Scott said

"Usually you can see signs of players dropping off [but] I haven't seen anything like that with Brent."

Asked the one aspect of Harvey's game that defined him, Scott said it was his ability to break opposition lines. "Brent's strength is his ability to evade tackles, his ability to run and bounce the ball, and his ability to kick that team-lifting goal when we really need it," Scott said.

"He's done that with alarming regularity".

As all North supporters could attest.