Robert Harvey confirms interest in senior coaching role, despite no approaches yet
St Kilda legend Robert Harvey has heard the rumbles about his potential return to the Saints as senior coach, but the Collingwood midfield coach says he’s just hoping for an opportunity “wherever that may be”.
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St Kilda legend Robert Harvey says he is yet to interview for any of the vacant AFL coaching jobs and says the emotion for the Saints has drifted away in his time as an assistant at Collingwood.
The Saints, Carlton and North Melbourne are on the hunt for new senior coaches after their incumbents moved on mid-season and Pies captain Scott Pendlebury has since given Harvey’s coaching credentials a glowing endorsement.
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Harvey, who is the Pies’ midfield coach and played 383 games for the Saints, says he’d look at a coaching opportunity “wherever that may be”.
“I haven’t done anything yet … I’ve really got my hands full at the moment with midfield at Collingwood,” the dual-Brownlow medallist said on AFL Tonight.
“(I) certainly haven’t had any approaches or done anything at this stage, so that’s where that’s at.
He said he wasn’t “hellbent” on coaching St Kilda.
“When you’ve been coaching for a while, that emotional side of it does tend to drift away,” Harvey said.
“I’m not hellbent on that (coaching the Saints), obviously there’s a lot of talk around that, but in the end, you’ve just got to put your head down and do your job and hopefully if an opportunity comes, that’d be great.”
Harvey said while he was focused on the Pies he did hope his efforts at the club over the past eight years would net him a senior coaching job.
“That’s the career path that I’m after,” he said.
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“I’ve been doing some coaching for a long time, if that opportunity came, wherever that may be, I’d certainly look at that and that’s where I want to go.
“Right now, I’ve got my hands full with what I’m doing here, which I’m really enjoying, so hopefully it’s going to be a busy time of year coming up with Collingwood, I’m looking forward to that and hopefully we can finish the year really well.”
Pendlebury believes the Saints should move quickly to secure their favourite son to lead the club after the sacking of Alan Richardson.
“For me, it’s a no-brainer,” Pendlebury said on the Jock & Journo podcast.
“Being an ex-champion of the club, the commercial side of it too, I think a lot of St Kilda people would be rapt to just hear ‘Harvs’ mentioned in the conversation.”
Originally published as Robert Harvey confirms interest in senior coaching role, despite no approaches yet
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