Roo Harvey to play 400th in Brisbane

North Melbourne great Brent Harvey is set to reach his 400-game AFL milestone in Brisbane next weekend after coach Brad Scott dismissed the idea of resting the evergreen midfielder against the Lions.

In a quirk of the AFL fixture, the Kangaroos don’t host their next home game in Melbourne until round 21 after Friday night’s workman-like win over Essendon, but play Carlton, who are the home side, in round 18 at Etihad Stadium.

If the rare milestone were to be achieved against the Blues, significantly more North supporters could be present to witness it, but Scott poured cold water on the idea of resting Harvey against Brisbane.

“I keep hearing those rumours that we’re going to rest him at some point so that he can play it in Melbourne,” Scott said.

“But I think both Brisbane and North Melbourne have been doing a fair bit of work to fly 400 of Boomer’s closest family and friends up.

“It would be a logistical nightmare if we (rested him).”

Harvey gathered 34 possessions in his 399th game as the Kangaroos toiled to a 25-point win against the undermanned Bombers.

The clash came a week after Scott made Harvey the substitute against Geelong in a move that the veteran said had been partially a punishment for not sticking to his role.

“I thought he took another step forward in his illustrious career,” Scott said after Friday night’s win.

“He’s playing on for one reason and that’s for team success. He’s now much clearer in his role for that.

“For too long he’s had to do it all for us and it was ‘Boomer or bust’. It can’t be that way for us any more.”

Scott allowed himself a wry smile when asked if Harvey had done enough to avoid the sub’s green vest next week when he joins Michael Tuck, Kevin Bartlett and Dustin Fletcher in the exclusive ‘400 club’.

“You wouldn’t want your 400th photo in a green vest, I wouldn’t have thought,” he said.

“I think it would be unlikely, but we won’t rule it out.”

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