North Melbourne premiership coach Denis Pagan has admitted that "not in a million years" did he think Kangaroo veteran Brent Harvey would end up as the club – and potentially the league – games' record holder.
Pagan, who recruited Harvey from Preston with pick 47 in the 1995 AFL draft said the diminutive Harvey's recruitment prompted some mirth on the day at the selection table.
"It just seems like yesterday when we were at the (95) draft and Kevin Sheedy and Ray Jordan, 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 Jordan could say it – and he said: 'Hey Neville, I see you picked a jockey'.
"I suppose when I looked at him (after that) I couldn't help but think of Damien Oliver."
Harvey has played six games this year for a total of 415, breaking the North Melbourne games' record every week he plays and getting closer to the all-time record of 426 held by Hawthorn ruckman Michael Tuck. Harvey's good form has also seen him kick 12 goals this season, taking him to a career total of 494.
Pagan, who coached North to two flags in 240 games before an unsuccessful 104-game stint at Carlton, said the Kangaroos recent good form should not be disregarded by the football pundits.
"Yeah they are going pretty well," he said. "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."
Last week's win over the Western Bulldogs has set North up for an exciting month, with this week's match on Sunday against St Kilda followed by a match on Harvey's 38th birthday against a weakened Essendon on May 14. Then follows another winnable game against cellar-dwellers Carlton, before a stronger Friday night test against the Sydney Swans at the SCG.
