Brent Harvey axing: Fans launch fightback after Kangaroo cull
NORTH Melbourne fans have reacted angrily to the club’s shock axing of AFL games record holder Brent “Boomer” Harvey in a culling of veteran players.
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NORTH Melbourne fans have reacted angrily to the club’s shock axing of AFL games record holder Brent “Boomer” Harvey in a culling of veteran players.
Supporters immediately called for a “Save Boomer Harvey” protest ahead of Saturday night’s clash with the GWS Giants at Etihad Stadium.
Harvey, who broke Hawk Michael Tuck’s longstanding AFL games record last month, was one of four veterans cut by the Kangaroos in a bombshell list decision.
Harvey’s father, Neil, said the family was “in shock”.
“He’s devastated. I just left work and I’m devastated. I’m in shock.
“He didn’t tell me why. He’s going to call in tonight with the family and tell me everything.
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“I just can’t believe it after Saturday’s performance against Sydney,’’ Mr Harvey said.
Forward Drew Petrie, defender Michael Firrito and midfielder Nick Dal Santo were also told their time at Arden St was up. The departure of the quartet means that 1337 games’ worth of experience — 430 of them Harvey’s — is leaving the club in one fell swoop.
Fans at Kangaroos training on Wednesday were shocked — mainly over the move to cut Harvey loose.
“Boomer’s probably more of a shock, because he’s had such a great year. I think he could go on,” member Martin Zerafa said.
“It had to come sooner or later. It’s probably a bit of a shock a week before the finals begin,” said Mr Zerafa, a member for 30 years.
North Melbourne has slid from a 9-0 start to the season to just scrape into eighth place for the finals.
Harvey’s manager, Shane Casley, said he would sit down with the five-time Kangaroos best-and-fairest at the end of the season to decide on his playing future.
A call to arms on Facebook is asking that supporters protest against the “grossly unjustified axing” of Harvey, who still averages 21 disposals a game, to “put pressure” on North Melbourne to re-sign the 38-year-old club great.
But North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw said football clubs had to make hard decisions for the future.
“Supporters are quite rightly allowed the sentimentality that football clubs are not.
“That’s because they are supporters and they absolutely love the club, the people that play for the club, and in ‘Boomer’ someone who has been at the club for 20-plus years,” Brayshaw said.
“But when you are inside a footy club ... you can’t think like that. You’ve gotta think: ‘How are we going to win our fifth premiership?’.
“The call is about the next five years, not next year, and not about the next four games ... you have to have a strategic plan,” Brayshaw said.
“You can’t just make it up as you go along, so the footy department have done that.
“At the moment we are feeling very sad,” he said.
“It’s the end of an incredible era for these four blokes.”
North Melbourne and Geelong premiership player Cameron Mooney says he’s in shock but it is the right decision.
Mooney, a member of North’s 1999 premiership side, said it was a tough call, particularly on Harvey, but the gamble to play all their veterans this season had backfired.
“They’ve had to make some big calls,’’ he said.
“But it’s tough, it really is tough.
“‘Boomer’ is one of the great blokes I’ve ever met. (He’ll) go out as one of the absolute legends of the footy club, but at the end of the day the club always has to come first.”
Sydney premiership captain Barry Hall said he couldn’t believe the news when told by a passer-by when stuck at a red light in Swan St, Richmond.
Hall said there was a clear benefit in recontracting Harvey and also using him in a mentoring role.
“I’m actually still in a bit of shock with it,” Hall said. “I thought ‘Boomer’, in particular, is in their top five players this year. It surprises me.
“If he wanted to play on, I would have thought he had the tickets in the bank to be able to do that. He was holding his form ... obviously the club have a plan and heads had to roll unfortunately.”
Coach Brad Scott said: “I spoke to all four boys (on Tuesday), and it’s easily the hardest day in my coaching career.
“I can understand, I can empathise (with) the disappointment and the emotion involved in this. It’s a heartbreaking decision ... a decision that wasn’t taken lightly.”
Scott, who joined North in 2009, said: “I understand a lot of fans will be disappointed. But I’m charged with the responsibility of putting this football club in a really strong position over the long term.”
- with Kate Salemme
MORE:
‘IT’S THE END OF AN INCREDIBLE ERA’
ROBBO: RIGHT CALL BUT FELT LIKE FOOTBALL EXECUTION
BOOMER’S DAD: ‘STOP BULLS----ING’
DAVID KING: BOOMER DESERVED BETTER THAN A PRESS RELEASE
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