Robert Harvey (footballer)

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Robert Jeffrey Harvey (born 21 August 1971) is an Australian Rules Football player in the Australian Football League recognised as one of the league's best midfielders and a champion of the modern era noted for his supreme endurance. He is the grandson of former Australian test cricketer Merv Harvey and grandnephew of Neil Harvey, who was Australia's leading runscorer and century-maker behind Don Bradman.

[edit] Early career

Recruited from St Kilda's VCFL zone, Harvey made the victorian under 17 teal cup side with the likes of Wayne Carey. He made his VFL debut in 1988 when he was recruited from local team Seaford by the St Kilda Football Club (the league changed its name to the AFL in 1990). He is the only current player who played in the pre-AFL, VFL days.

[edit] Trademarks

Harvey is a playmaker noted for his hard running and ability to evade tackles using techniques such as the shrug, baulk, dummy, sidestep and blind turn. These attributes give him room to run the ball and dispose effectively through his deft handpasses and kicks.

He is also known for his acceleration and endurance.

[edit] Awards

• In a distinguished career, Harvey has won countless awards and medals, including consecutive Brownlow Medals, the league's highest individual honour, in 1997 and 1998.

• Robert Harvey has been awarded over 200 Brownlow votes, making him 2nd for overall Brownlow votes in AFL/VFL history. He is the only player to ever have received votes in more than 100 games.

• He won the club best and fairest in 1992, 1994, 1997 and 1998.

• He has been selected in the All-Australian team seven times.

• He has won three E. J. Whitten Medals, the 1997 AFL Players Association Award (now known as the Leigh Matthews Trophy) and the Michael Tuck Medal for player adjudged best on ground in the Pre-season Cup Final in 2004.

• He is one of the ten players in the history of the game to play 350 or more games.

• He has played in three Pre-season Cup winning sides in 1996, 2004 and 2008, as well as the Minor Premiership and runner-up Grand Final side in 1997.

[edit] Injuries

Harvey has struggled with numerous injuries in the recent past and had a knee reconstruction (ACL) in 2001 as well as suffering from numerous hamstring problems. In 2003 and 2004, however, he was able to play out a full season. Harvey suffered a hamstring injury in a game against the Fremantle Dockers in Round 9 in 2007. The injury kept him out for 4 weeks.

[edit] St. Kilda games record

Harvey became the fourth player to play 300 games for the St. Kilda Football Club in the 2004 Preliminary Final against Port Adelaide. In Round 7 in 2006, against Geelong in front of a near full house at the Telstra Dome, Harvey broke the all-time games record for the St. Kilda Football Club (until then held by Nathan Burke) with 324 games). To celebrate this the Saints wore special guernseys with Harvey's sillouhetted image in the centre. The Saints lost to Geelong, going down by 18 points.

[edit] 2007 Season

Harvey reached his 350th game against West Coast at Subiaco Oval in Round 12, where the Saints unexpectedly defeated the reigning champs by 23 points. At the end of the season he announced he would continue playing in 2008, making him the only VFL/AFL player to ever play in 21 consecutive seasons. Of current players he is the record holder for most number of games, but is unlikely to break Michael Tuck's VFL/AFL games record of 426.

[edit] 2008 Season

Harvey has started well in the 2008 season. He has played every game thus far and has hit back at criticism from former coach Grant Thomas who claimed that Harvey wouldn't be able to keep up with the demands of AFL football in 2008. Even at the age of 36 going on 37 Harvey, remarkably, is still averaging over 20 disposals a game and bringing invaluable poise and composure to the St.Kilda line-up.

[edit] Personal life

Harvey is married to Danielle, who appeared on Fox Footy's "Living With Footballers" before it was cancelled at the end of 2004. They have three children - a son, Connor; and two daughters, Remy and Alyssa.

[edit] See also

• St Kilda Football Club

[edit] Sources

• Robert Harvey (footballer) profile on the Official AFL Website of the St Kilda Football Club
• Robert Harvey (footballer)'s statistics from AFL Tables

[edit] References

[edit] External Links