Harvey reveals how close he got to leaving North after delisting

The AFL’s games record holder, Brent ‘Boomer’ Harvey, has revealed how close he was to signing for a different AFL club after his exit from North Melbourne in 2016.

The 432-game player has had a storied career with the Kangaroos, which spanned over 21 seasons between 1996 and 2016, during which he became one of the club’s greatest players.

During his time, he was a part of the 1999 Premiership team, amassed 191 Brownlow votes (the most in North Melbourne history), made the All-Australian team four times and won the Syd Barker Medal (club best and fairest) five times, seeing him inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2022.

But his exit from the club, which saw him cut alongside Drew Petrie, Nick Dal Santo and Michael Firrito, left a bitter taste in the mouths of fans considering the midfielder/forward was still playing well, having averaged 21 disposals and 1.5 goals a game in his last season.

Reflecting on his exit, Harvey still believes that he could have played in 2017 and potentially in 2018 if he were still performing.

“I certainly think one (more season),” Harvey said on SEN’s Sportsday.

“I kicked 36 goals in my last year. You kick 36 goals now, you’re nearly an All-Australian as a small forward.

“And I was getting up the ground a little bit as well, and my kicking game inside 50 was one of my strengths.

“I also finished 5th in our best and fairest (that year), and my mental state was as good as it’s ever been.

“There was no question I wanted to go around once again. I definitely had one year left in me.

“If I had slowed down (in performance), that would have been probably it. If I didn’t slow down, potentially was there two (years)? I don’t know.

“But I definitely thought I had one year left in me.”

When pressed by Ken Hinkley if any other sides had come calling to try and pry the then 38-year-old out of the club, Harvey, while not confirming which clubs had, did reveal how close he got to playing on.

“I actually had the opportunity,” he continued.

“My manager (Shane Casley) did ring me, and there were a couple of clubs that reached out for different reasons.

“One was high up on the ladder and were potentially going to play a lot of finals, and another team fairly down the bottom that was probably looking for a little bit of leadership.

“To be honest, I did think about it for about 48 hours, and there was one night where I went home and put my head on the pillow and pictured myself in both of their jumpers.

“And I rang my manager at 6:30, the next morning and said, ‘Nup, I’m done’.”

It wasn’t the first time that he had received offers from rival clubs to leave the Kangaroos.

During the 2000s, the club legend revealed in his autobiography that he received an offer from his former coach, Dennis Pagan, to join the Blues on a reported $700,000 a year and the club captaincy.

He could have also departed Arden St. the year after he won his first and only premiership at North Melbourne, with Hawthorn offering him a three-year deal worth $1.2 million in 2000.