Fiery North Melbourne forward Brent Harvey hopes he can avoid tipping over the edge when he returns from suspension.

But the veteran of 382 AFL games admits he’s getting a bit cranky in his old age.

The 36-year-old four-time All-Australian was handed a three-match ban at a tribunal hearing on Tuesday after being charged with misconduct for throwing Western Bulldogs’ tagger Liam Picken on the ground and pinning him with a forearm to the throat.

Harvey will miss North’s last two games of the home-and-away season and the first week of the finals, should the Kangaroos qualify as expected.

The five-time club champion said his actions were undisciplined and there was no point blaming the off-the-ball tactics of taggers or the umpires for not doing enough to protect the game’s stars.

“(Picken) didn’t say nothing. He was playing his role,” Harvey told the Nine Network’s The Footy Show on Thursday night.

“He was tagging me on the day and he got me to jump off the cliff.

“I handled it pretty well earlier in my career. It might be the old age getting to me.

“In the last couple of years, I’ve had a couple of incidents.

“Hopefully, I can put it behind me and, when the boys come out and tag me, I just do what I do and keep running hard and, hopefully, I get the ball and not have to worry about all the other crap that comes with it.

“Unfortunately, it’s the second time it’s happened in a couple of years.

“I got six weeks a couple of years ago over in Perth in that (2012 elimination) final.

“It’s not good enough. It’s very undisciplined on my behalf.

“I’ve got to make sure that I can control my temper.

“That’s the biggest disappointment that I’ve got, that I actually let somebody get to me.

“I tipped over the edge. It’s frustrating at times but, at the same time, I take full responsibility.

“I shouldn’t have done it.

“I can blame the umpires. I can blame the taggers.

“But I’m not going to do that.

“We pleaded guilty to a case of misconduct and I got three weeks.

“I got my right whack.”