After the competition of 11 more rounds of football, Brent Harvey could run out for game number 427 and take top spot on the VFL/AFL all-time games played list. It’s a remarkable achievement and one Boomer’s former coach Denis Pagan thought would never happen.

The two-time North Melbourne premiership coach led the club when Harvey was drafted in 1995 and told The Age "not in a million years" did he think the little champion would still be playing well into his mid-thirties.

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"It just seems like yesterday when we were at the (95) draft and Kevin Sheedy and Ray Jordon, the famous junior coach, was there with Channel Seven ... and he leant across the table during the ad break and he said to Neville Stibbard our recruiting guy – in the way only Ray Jordon could say it – and he said: 'Hey Neville, I see you picked a jockey'.

Despite being overlooked several selections prior and by all the other clubs, Harvey was selected at 47 by the Kangaroos.

"I suppose when I looked at him (after that) I couldn't help but think of Damien Oliver," Pagan admitted.

Still going strong in his 21st season, Harvey has now played 415 games and is just six goals from booting 500.

Pagan believes Harvey’s form should not be ignored, and neither should North’s undefeated start.

"Yeah they are going pretty well," he said of the Kangaroos.

"People can say what they like, there is only one thing that matters in AFL football and that's the scoreboard and it determines so many things, it determines coaches' destinies, club futures and where you are on the ladder.

"And at the moment, North are six-zilch. It's a pretty good effort I reckon."

North play on Sunday against St Kilda followed by a match on Harvey's 38th birthday against Essendon on May 14.