Interim Brisbane Lions coach and Essendon great Mark Harvey has deflected questions about whether he’s interested in returning to Windy Hill to help revive the Bombers.
On the eve of his 100th AFL game as senior coach, Harvey has stressed he’s purely focused on guiding the Lions to a massive upset in Geelong which could snare Brisbane a finals spot.
The Bombers triple-premiership winner and former Fremantle mentor is off contract with Brisbane at the end of the season and has no interest in being the long-term replacement for Michael Voss.
With James Hird banned for 12 months over Essendon’s supplement scandal, Harvey’s former teammate Mark Thompson is seen as a likely stand-in for 2014.
Harvey denied he’d been approached by Essendon and wouldn’t be drawn into whether he had a desire to help fix the Bombers’ problems.
“I haven’t made any decisions about my future,” the 48-year-old said. “On the eve of my last game, why would we even talk about it?”
“My only interest is coaching the team tomorrow and the Essendon stuff will sort itself out,” he said. “I’m really keen to work with this young group tomorrow and see what we can achieve.”
A senior assistant coach under Voss for the past two seasons, Harvey reiterated he had no interest in being the main man at the Gabba.
“As I’ve told the club, I don’t (want the job),” he said.
“It’s far from my mind at the moment and I just want to get on with the moment and it’s an exciting moment.”
While Brisbane came from 53 points down to beat Geelong at the Gabba two months ago, the in-form Cats have won 48 of their past 50 matches at Simonds Stadium and need to win the last-round clash to seal second place and a home qualifying final.


