North coach Brad Scott suggested he’d make a ‘devastating little sub’ late in his career, and while Harvey is open to the idea, he’s not quite ready to don the green vest just yet.
“I’ve only played sub once and that was against the Bulldogs in the NAB Cup game. I’m enjoying my football and I’d like to think that Brad (Scott) still needs me in the team starting in the 21,” he said at Arden Street on Tuesday.
“(But) If that happens I’m happy with that because I’m still in the 22, I’m still playing for the North Melbourne Football Club. I believe I will be able to come on and contribute to hopefully help win some games.”
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Harvey has defied his age with two match-winning performances in the past fortnight, and even at 35 he warrants plenty of attention from the opposition.
Against the Swans this week, nothing will change.
“Most weeks as a small-forward you get a lock-down defender anyway. If that happens, that’s fine because we’ve got other blokes now with Leigh Adams playing some good footy, Lindsay Thomas is in great form. We’ve got guys who can stand up and do the job for us.”
Victories against the Bulldogs and Power in successive weeks will give North plenty of confidence travelling to SCG, despite its poor recent record in head-to-head battles.
“We haven’t beaten Sydney for a very long time. I think it goes back to 2007 and I know Sydney’s one of the teams that Brad has not won against,” Harvey added.
“They are a very good team; they’ve been a good outfit for a long, long time. It’s going to be a very tough game for us, we know that and we know what we are getting ourselves into.”
The ability to excel late in the game against Port erased at least some demons from a forgetful 2013 season, with a similar four-quarter effort a must on Sunday.
“It’s hard to point a finger at, but if you add a few new blokes; Luke McDonald comes into our side, Nick Dal Santo comes in with a lot of poise, a lot of leadership. I’m sure somewhere along the line that would have helped (in finishing games strongly).
“But I think just the confidence and our young guys… it’s been well publicized this week that (Ryan) Bastinac and (Ben) Cunnington and these type of guys really stood up for us. That’s something we are looking to get improvement from every single week, those type of guys, so when they are leading the possessions with 30, 28 and 27 it’s a promising future for our footy club.”
Harvey saved special praise for the in-form number 10.
“We’ve seen glimpses over the last two years of what Cunners can achieve. Once he puts a little bit of consistency to that, he’ll be a very, very good player.
“I’ve got no doubt going forward for the next ten years that Ben Cunnington will be in charge of our midfield with Jack Ziebell and these types of guys.
“He’s an exceptional young man as well. He works very hard and it’s great to see him reaping rewards from a great game on the weekend.”
