by GLENN McFARLANE
ROBERT Harvey first played for St Kilda in this round 20 years ago, a 69-point loss to Footscray at the Western Oval.
A quarter of the team that day were teenagers, with another three players aged 20.
Gun spearhead Tony Lockett did not play due to an ankle injury. Here, the members of that team (from the backline) talk about their Harvey memories.
NATHAN BURKE
"Harvs went from struggling to get a game in the Nepean under 15s side to playing for St Kilda 18 months later.
"It wasn't the most professional of places back then. But when things became more professional in the '90s, Harvs lapped it up. There hasn't been a more professional player.''
DANNY FRAWLEY
"I recall a skinny little fellow with arms and legs like straw, but he could run and kick. He is an absolute icon and a great role model for a lot of people, including me.''
RUSSELL JEFFREY
"The minute he came into the club and started playing, his nickname was Brownlow. I reckon he was impressive straight away in that first game. We all knew he could play.''
TREVOR BARKER
Harvey's first captain and a mentor in his first two seasons, Barker died of cancer in 1996.
ROBERT ELPHINSTONE
"He came from my local side, Seaford. He was always a ball magnet, almost from day one, with a cat-like awareness and ability to dance out of a pack. They normally give the numbers in the 50s to the blokes they don't rate. But they made a real mistake with Harvs.''
JAYSON DANIELS
"Harvs and I were at school then. Doc (coach Darrel Baldock) used to let the younger guys off the track early. We'd train Tuesdays and Thursdays, be on the track for an hour, and Doc would say `go home and study, boys'. Harvs always had talent and a work ethic, but he was never naturally a long-distance runner. I left and went to Sydney, then came back to St Kilda. For me, it was then it hit home how far he'd come in that area."
FRANK COGHLAN
"Doc used to put me up against Harvs in circle work. He wanted me to extend him because I was a reasonable runner. As it turned out, it was Harvs extending me.
"I remember Doc was none too pleased with our endeavour that day (Harvs's first game). But he gave Harvs a big wrap.''
GREG BURNS
"He went to pull on a pair of boots one day and I said `Take them off, throw them away and put on a pair of bloody dancing shoes, because all you want to do is tap, tap, tap around the packs'. After he won the first Brownlow, I said `well, Harvs, you've turned out to be a much better player than I thought you would be'. I was never sure how he would front up after a few knocks. As it turned out, he has played for 20 years and he has only got one knock _ the other day.''
RICKY NIXON
"You could bash him, tell him you've been cruel to his kids or burn down his house, and you still wouldn't faze him. The type of person he is has probably cost him in the comparisons with Voss, Buckley and the others. That's the only reason they don't put him up there, because he doesn't talk about himself.''
STEWART LOEWE
"In his first half a dozen games he would bob up and have a blinder of a quarter. Burkey and I used to drive him to games before he had his licence. When Harvs took over the reins, I got nervous. In footy terms, he was the most organised person you would get, but in everything else he was hopeless. He would rock up minus his footy bag or pick me up 20 minutes late and I'd be pacing the street waiting.''
JOHN PETER-BUDGE
"We got beaten on the day and Harvs was just this pimply-faced kid with natural talent and brilliant evasive skills. My best memory came the following year. We were playing Sydney and Harvs dominated the first half before breaking his ankle. I said to Craig Devonport who was beside me `this guy's going to win a Brownlow'.''
SPIRO KOURKOUMELIS
"You get some kids who come in and are cocky and up themselves. Robert was the complete opposite. I felt sorry for the young guys coming into the team at the time because the club was in trouble. But Harvs made it in spite of all that.''
NICKY WINMAR
Could not be contacted
PETER McCONVILLE
"When he was young, his endurance was not that good, but he worked bloody hard and has become a legend. One of the best finals I've seen anyone play was when Mick McGuane tried to go with him in the 1992 elimination final. Harvs killed him.''
BOB JONES
"I was privileged to see the likes of Harvs and Nathan Burke play their first games. I remember Harvs coming down and being introduced to the players. There is always something special about good players. Harvs went past being special and became a legend.''
MICK DWYER
"Harvs surprised us a bit by how quickly he got into the team. We looked around and thought `who's this kid?', and then `how good is he?'. Rob was brought into the team when the environment wasn't super. But he had that innate ability to find the footy.''
KEN SHELDON
"I remember a kid with a huge head of black hair, with a head disproportionate to his body. He was always a modest, level-headed kid. In the early games he would get five possessions in a short time, which was an indication of his talent. To play with him, coach him and watch him over the years has been a real pleasure.''
INTERCHANGE
BRETT BOWEY
"They were great times, and I was lucky enough to play my first game in Harvs' first game. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Harvs. He is still the same laid-back bloke he was back in 1988.''
DEAN RICE
"Harvs had incredible balance, skills and poise for a 16-year-old. What stood out early and for most of his career was that every time anyone went to tackle him, they couldn't do it because he had this way of avoiding tackles or brushing blokes off.''
harvey's first game
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bigcarl
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bigcarl
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Re: great read on harvey's first game
we're going nowhere this season. might as well celebrate the career of a champion.
bump.
took me an hour to key it in so i'm not going to let it slip off the first page.
bump.
took me an hour to key it in so i'm not going to let it slip off the first page.
Last edited by bigcarl on Sun 10 Aug 2008 4:11pm, edited 1 time in total.
Great read, thanks for taking the time to post it 
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bigcarl
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thanks for saving me the trouble of bumping it again. it is the first media to do the story justice.battye wrote:Great read, thanks for taking the time to post it
they have a whole double page spread on harvey which everyone should read, but it would have involved too much typing.
perhaps someone can find the link. i can't see it.
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bigcarl wrote:a pity because i would have loved to have read one great man's thoughts on another.NICKY WINMAR
Could not be contacted
still, a top effort to track the rest of them down after 20 years. they should have put in what each is doing now, though. would have been interesting to see.
My thoughts exactly on both of your points.
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bigcarl
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by GLENN McFARLANE
WHEN you have had somewhere in the vicinity of 5600 kicks in your 377-game league career, you are bound to forget most of them.
But for retiring St Kilda champion Robert Harvey, one of those kicks stands out almost as much as any of thousands of others _ his first.
It came 7309 days ago _ or 20 years ago this week _ at the Western Oval (yes, it was called that once) against Footscray (yes, they were called that once).
It was not only Harvey's first kick in VFL football (as it was then) _ it was the first kick of the game in the first minute of his first match.
St Kilda big man Bob Jones punched the ball from the opening bounce and somehow it found its way into the arms of a skinny kid in the No.52 jumper coming in off the half-forward flank.
Harvey, then a schoolboy only 15 days short of his 17th birthday, grabbed the ball and kicked it as hard as he could.
Back then, it seemed as if it was a piece of good fortune for the first gamer. Twenty years on, it almost seems like fate.
``There was a big buzz around my school (John Paul College in Frankston) when it was announced I was going to play,'' Harvey recalled this week on the 20th anniversary of that first game, coinciding with the announcement he would retire at season's end.
``I remember it was a long day out there at the Western Oval,'' he said. ``We got pumped. I started on the half-forward flank. The ball somehow fell into my arms from the centre bounce and I got the first kick of the game.
``I thought `how easy is this?'. It was a good lesson, because I only got five or six more for the rest of the match.''
To the casual observer that day _ August 6, 1988 _ was just another nondescript Saturday afternoon of pain for St Kilda, which pretty much summed up the club's decade.
The 1980s may be remembered for a multitude of things _ the ``greed is good'' culture, the new wave of music, the video age, the Rubik's Cube, Pacman and even pastel/fluro colours.
But for fans of the red, black and white it was a decade of despair, when the club almost went out of business and they ``won'' half of the wooden spoons.
So it was little wonder that only 10,477 fans were in the Western Oval crowd for Harvey's first game, which Footscray won by 69 points.
But those supporters trudging away from yet another defeat could at least enthuse about a little bit of illumination among the gloom, with coach Darrel Baldock giving two young kids their first chance.
One was Harvey. The other was rover Brett Bowey, in the No.55 jumper.
Bowey still marvels that his league experience started on the same day as Harvey's, and yet ended after a solid career back in 1994.
While Harvey got the first kick of the game, Bowey gave away a free kick with his first touch.
``Bob Jones smashed the ball down and Harvs came in off the half forward flank and got a kick,'' Bowey said. ``Then I got pinged for holding the ball with my first touch.''
Bowey did manage to kick two goals from his eight touches in an impressive debut, while the other new boy ended up with 12 possessions and a behind.
Those two players, according to a teammate that day, Frank Coghlan, were the only ones immune from a Baldock spray after the game.
``The Doc was none too impressed with our endeavour that day, and he really let us have it,'' Coghlan said.
``From memory, it was only the first gamers who didn't cop it. He gave Harvey a big wrap.''
Speaking to most of the other 19 players who represented St Kilda that day, most of them said Harvey looked every bit a star almost from the outset.
He had come through the ranks in a short time. Teal Cup in the same year as current Carlton coach Brett Ratten and another kid called Wayne Carey. St Kilda under-19s and then St Kilda reserves.
Then, with the senior team almost in disarray, reserves coach Gary Colling convinced Baldock that he should elevate Harvey and Bowey.
``The club was in a bit of trouble back then and I think they were throwing the young kids in a bit,'' Harvey said.
``Darrel had already told Brett and I that they were going to play us, and we wouldn't be dropped for the rest of the year, which gave us confidence.''
Harvey also recalls a couple of other things about that first game and that first season.
He got $700 as his first match payment _ ``I was happy to get that much'' _ and he also managed to sneak into the famous (or infamous, depending on your view) St Kilda disco before his 18th birthday.
In a nice twist, the St Kilda disco used to be held in the same room where Harvey announced his retirement this week.
``I did get in there (the disco), but I'm not sure Mum would like to hear that,'' he joked.
``We had some big wins at Moorabbin and it was chockers up there (in the disco).''
Harvey said he thinks St Kilda was ``harshly treated'' when people discuss the club's culture in his early years there.
``We had some drinkers, for sure, but I don't think we were any worse than other clubs,'' he said.
Predictably, the Saints lost the final three matches of 1988 to finish on the bottom of the ladder. But fans knew they had found a kid who would be the heart of the club throughout the 1990s.
It's just that not even the most wildly optimistic fan could have imagined that the same kid would still be going so strongly near the end of the 2000s.
WHEN you have had somewhere in the vicinity of 5600 kicks in your 377-game league career, you are bound to forget most of them.
But for retiring St Kilda champion Robert Harvey, one of those kicks stands out almost as much as any of thousands of others _ his first.
It came 7309 days ago _ or 20 years ago this week _ at the Western Oval (yes, it was called that once) against Footscray (yes, they were called that once).
It was not only Harvey's first kick in VFL football (as it was then) _ it was the first kick of the game in the first minute of his first match.
St Kilda big man Bob Jones punched the ball from the opening bounce and somehow it found its way into the arms of a skinny kid in the No.52 jumper coming in off the half-forward flank.
Harvey, then a schoolboy only 15 days short of his 17th birthday, grabbed the ball and kicked it as hard as he could.
Back then, it seemed as if it was a piece of good fortune for the first gamer. Twenty years on, it almost seems like fate.
``There was a big buzz around my school (John Paul College in Frankston) when it was announced I was going to play,'' Harvey recalled this week on the 20th anniversary of that first game, coinciding with the announcement he would retire at season's end.
``I remember it was a long day out there at the Western Oval,'' he said. ``We got pumped. I started on the half-forward flank. The ball somehow fell into my arms from the centre bounce and I got the first kick of the game.
``I thought `how easy is this?'. It was a good lesson, because I only got five or six more for the rest of the match.''
To the casual observer that day _ August 6, 1988 _ was just another nondescript Saturday afternoon of pain for St Kilda, which pretty much summed up the club's decade.
The 1980s may be remembered for a multitude of things _ the ``greed is good'' culture, the new wave of music, the video age, the Rubik's Cube, Pacman and even pastel/fluro colours.
But for fans of the red, black and white it was a decade of despair, when the club almost went out of business and they ``won'' half of the wooden spoons.
So it was little wonder that only 10,477 fans were in the Western Oval crowd for Harvey's first game, which Footscray won by 69 points.
But those supporters trudging away from yet another defeat could at least enthuse about a little bit of illumination among the gloom, with coach Darrel Baldock giving two young kids their first chance.
One was Harvey. The other was rover Brett Bowey, in the No.55 jumper.
Bowey still marvels that his league experience started on the same day as Harvey's, and yet ended after a solid career back in 1994.
While Harvey got the first kick of the game, Bowey gave away a free kick with his first touch.
``Bob Jones smashed the ball down and Harvs came in off the half forward flank and got a kick,'' Bowey said. ``Then I got pinged for holding the ball with my first touch.''
Bowey did manage to kick two goals from his eight touches in an impressive debut, while the other new boy ended up with 12 possessions and a behind.
Those two players, according to a teammate that day, Frank Coghlan, were the only ones immune from a Baldock spray after the game.
``The Doc was none too impressed with our endeavour that day, and he really let us have it,'' Coghlan said.
``From memory, it was only the first gamers who didn't cop it. He gave Harvey a big wrap.''
Speaking to most of the other 19 players who represented St Kilda that day, most of them said Harvey looked every bit a star almost from the outset.
He had come through the ranks in a short time. Teal Cup in the same year as current Carlton coach Brett Ratten and another kid called Wayne Carey. St Kilda under-19s and then St Kilda reserves.
Then, with the senior team almost in disarray, reserves coach Gary Colling convinced Baldock that he should elevate Harvey and Bowey.
``The club was in a bit of trouble back then and I think they were throwing the young kids in a bit,'' Harvey said.
``Darrel had already told Brett and I that they were going to play us, and we wouldn't be dropped for the rest of the year, which gave us confidence.''
Harvey also recalls a couple of other things about that first game and that first season.
He got $700 as his first match payment _ ``I was happy to get that much'' _ and he also managed to sneak into the famous (or infamous, depending on your view) St Kilda disco before his 18th birthday.
In a nice twist, the St Kilda disco used to be held in the same room where Harvey announced his retirement this week.
``I did get in there (the disco), but I'm not sure Mum would like to hear that,'' he joked.
``We had some big wins at Moorabbin and it was chockers up there (in the disco).''
Harvey said he thinks St Kilda was ``harshly treated'' when people discuss the club's culture in his early years there.
``We had some drinkers, for sure, but I don't think we were any worse than other clubs,'' he said.
Predictably, the Saints lost the final three matches of 1988 to finish on the bottom of the ladder. But fans knew they had found a kid who would be the heart of the club throughout the 1990s.
It's just that not even the most wildly optimistic fan could have imagined that the same kid would still be going so strongly near the end of the 2000s.
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saintbrat
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http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.a ... 39920.aspx
Champions from the beginning
10/08/2008 12:00:00 AM
DARREL Baldock had the good fortune to coach two talented teenagers during his tenure at St Kilda 20 years ago.
First to arrive was Nathan Burke who made his debut under Baldock in his first year as coach in 1987 and then a year later along came Robert Harvey.
Baldock rated the pair at the top of the list of players he has coached.
"You knew straight away that Nathan had the leadership qualities to be a future captain of St Kilda and Robert had the ability to win a Brownlow Medal."
Baldock was right on both counts with Burke captaining the Saints for five years during his 300-game career and Harvey winning the Brownlow Medal in 1997 and 1998.
Baldock said Burke's father Brian, who was a legend with the Sandringham Football Club, had alerted the Saints to Harvey.
"He told us about this 16-year- old kid who had plenty of skills and we said to send him up to Moorabbin," he said.
Harvey, the oldest player in the AFL, announced his retirement this week.
Champions from the beginning
10/08/2008 12:00:00 AM
DARREL Baldock had the good fortune to coach two talented teenagers during his tenure at St Kilda 20 years ago.
First to arrive was Nathan Burke who made his debut under Baldock in his first year as coach in 1987 and then a year later along came Robert Harvey.
Baldock rated the pair at the top of the list of players he has coached.
"You knew straight away that Nathan had the leadership qualities to be a future captain of St Kilda and Robert had the ability to win a Brownlow Medal."
Baldock was right on both counts with Burke captaining the Saints for five years during his 300-game career and Harvey winning the Brownlow Medal in 1997 and 1998.
Baldock said Burke's father Brian, who was a legend with the Sandringham Football Club, had alerted the Saints to Harvey.
"He told us about this 16-year- old kid who had plenty of skills and we said to send him up to Moorabbin," he said.
Harvey, the oldest player in the AFL, announced his retirement this week.
StReNgTh ThRoUgH LoYaLtY
Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly..!!
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Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly..!!
MEMBERSHIP 2014 31,134 Membership 2015 32,746 MEMBERSHIP 2016 - 38,101
MEMBERSHIP 2017 42,095 , Membership 2018 46,998
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ThePunter
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I went on the stats.rleague website to see who had had played with Banger in his first game. After looking at the 20, I had a crack at what the side would have looked like lining up at the start and posted it on the "Players to play with 35" thread on this site. The side looked like this:
Now, I'm sure McFarlane would have had the ability to look at old editions of the Sun and find out exactly how the side was named. But no, he just googled it, and took some bloke (me) at his word from a supporter forum.
Doesn't any journalist know how to do old fashioned research any more?
Having said that, I'm a little flattered, but just a little.
So I was a little surprised when I read the McFarlane article and see the side exactly like this.Round 19 1988 v Footscray
B Burke Frawley Jeffrey
HB Barker Elphingstone Daniels
C Coghlan Burns Nixon
HF Harvey Loewe Peter-Budge
F Kourkomelis Winmar McConville
Foll B Jones Dwyer Sheldon
Int Bowey Rice
Now, I'm sure McFarlane would have had the ability to look at old editions of the Sun and find out exactly how the side was named. But no, he just googled it, and took some bloke (me) at his word from a supporter forum.
Doesn't any journalist know how to do old fashioned research any more?
Having said that, I'm a little flattered, but just a little.
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bigcarl
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thanks for this brat. doc was great for the club when he came back as coach in the late '80s.saintbrat wrote:http://northerntasmania.yourguide.com.a ... 39920.aspx
Champions from the beginning
10/08/2008 12:00:00 AM
DARREL Baldock had the good fortune to coach two talented teenagers during his tenure at St Kilda 20 years ago.
First to arrive was Nathan Burke who made his debut under Baldock in his first year as coach in 1987 and then a year later along came Robert Harvey.
Baldock rated the pair at the top of the list of players he has coached.
"You knew straight away that Nathan had the leadership qualities to be a future captain of St Kilda and Robert had the ability to win a Brownlow Medal."
Baldock was right on both counts with Burke captaining the Saints for five years during his 300-game career and Harvey winning the Brownlow Medal in 1997 and 1998.
Baldock said Burke's father Brian, who was a legend with the Sandringham Football Club, had alerted the Saints to Harvey.
"He told us about this 16-year- old kid who had plenty of skills and we said to send him up to Moorabbin," he said.
Harvey, the oldest player in the AFL, announced his retirement this week.
we'd finished bottom the previous few seasons and had no money. bringing him back lifted us off the bottom rung and got us going again.
unfortunately he had a stroke during his second season and his health got in the way of his continuing.
but i'm not surprised that he recognised talent and leadership when he saw it. had a great football mind.
one of the first things he did was stop plugger leading out from the goalsquare to the pockets.
made him stand about 20 metres out from the square; gave him some space and told him to lead into it.
so plugger could either lead up the ground or out to the flanks or drop back and back his strength in a contested marking situation.
it paid immediate dividends with lockett booting 117 goals and winning the brownlow in baldock's first season back.
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bigcarl
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Re: great read on harvey's first game
bigcarl wrote:good stuff in ther herald sun today. the first time they've done justice to harvey's retirement. They've done two full pages and i can't find a link, but here's part of it.
by GLENN McFARLANE
ROBERT Harvey first played for St Kilda in this round 20 years ago, a 69-point loss to Footscray at the Western Oval.
A quarter of the team that day were teenagers, with another three players aged 20.
Gun spearhead Tony Lockett did not play due to an ankle injury. Here, the members of that team (from the backline) talk about their Harvey memories.
NATHAN BURKE
"Harvs went from struggling to get a game in the Nepean under 15s side to playing for St Kilda 18 months later.
"It wasn't the most professional of places back then. But when things became more professional in the '90s, Harvs lapped it up. There hasn't been a more professional player.''
DANNY FRAWLEY
"I recall a skinny little fellow with arms and legs like straw, but he could run and kick. He is an absolute icon and a great role model for a lot of people, including me.''
RUSSELL JEFFREY
"The minute he came into the club and started playing, his nickname was Brownlow. I reckon he was impressive straight away in that first game. We all knew he could play.''
TREVOR BARKER
Harvey's first captain and a mentor in his first two seasons, Barker died of cancer in 1996.
ROBERT ELPHINSTONE
"He came from my local side, Seaford. He was always a ball magnet, almost from day one, with a cat-like awareness and ability to dance out of a pack. They normally give the numbers in the 50s to the blokes they don't rate. But they made a real mistake with Harvs.''
JAYSON DANIELS
"Harvs and I were at school then. Doc (coach Darrel Baldock) used to let the younger guys off the track early. We'd train Tuesdays and Thursdays, be on the track for an hour, and Doc would say `go home and study, boys'. Harvs always had talent and a work ethic, but he was never naturally a long-distance runner. I left and went to Sydney, then came back to St Kilda. For me, it was then it hit home how far he'd come in that area."
FRANK COGHLAN
"Doc used to put me up against Harvs in circle work. He wanted me to extend him because I was a reasonable runner. As it turned out, it was Harvs extending me.
"I remember Doc was none too pleased with our endeavour that day (Harvs's first game). But he gave Harvs a big wrap.''
GREG BURNS
"He went to pull on a pair of boots one day and I said `Take them off, throw them away and put on a pair of bloody dancing shoes, because all you want to do is tap, tap, tap around the packs'. After he won the first Brownlow, I said `well, Harvs, you've turned out to be a much better player than I thought you would be'. I was never sure how he would front up after a few knocks. As it turned out, he has played for 20 years and he has only got one knock _ the other day.''
RICKY NIXON
"You could bash him, tell him you've been cruel to his kids or burn down his house, and you still wouldn't faze him. The type of person he is has probably cost him in the comparisons with Voss, Buckley and the others. That's the only reason they don't put him up there, because he doesn't talk about himself.''
STEWART LOEWE
"In his first half a dozen games he would bob up and have a blinder of a quarter. Burkey and I used to drive him to games before he had his licence. When Harvs took over the reins, I got nervous. In footy terms, he was the most organised person you would get, but in everything else he was hopeless. He would rock up minus his footy bag or pick me up 20 minutes late and I'd be pacing the street waiting.''
JOHN PETER-BUDGE
"We got beaten on the day and Harvs was just this pimply-faced kid with natural talent and brilliant evasive skills. My best memory came the following year. We were playing Sydney and Harvs dominated the first half before breaking his ankle. I said to Craig Devonport who was beside me `this guy's going to win a Brownlow'.''
SPIRO KOURKOUMELIS
"You get some kids who come in and are cocky and up themselves. Robert was the complete opposite. I felt sorry for the young guys coming into the team at the time because the club was in trouble. But Harvs made it in spite of all that.''
NICKY WINMAR
Could not be contacted
PETER McCONVILLE
"When he was young, his endurance was not that good, but he worked bloody hard and has become a legend. One of the best finals I've seen anyone play was when Mick McGuane tried to go with him in the 1992 elimination final. Harvs killed him.''
BOB JONES
"I was privileged to see the likes of Harvs and Nathan Burke play their first games. I remember Harvs coming down and being introduced to the players. There is always something special about good players. Harvs went past being special and became a legend.''
MICK DWYER
"Harvs surprised us a bit by how quickly he got into the team. We looked around and thought `who's this kid?', and then `how good is he?'. Rob was brought into the team when the environment wasn't super. But he had that innate ability to find the footy.''
KEN SHELDON
"I remember a kid with a huge head of black hair, with a head disproportionate to his body. He was always a modest, level-headed kid. In the early games he would get five possessions in a short time, which was an indication of his talent. To play with him, coach him and watch him over the years has been a real pleasure.''
INTERCHANGE
BRETT BOWEY
"They were great times, and I was lucky enough to play my first game in Harvs' first game. I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Harvs. He is still the same laid-back bloke he was back in 1988.''
DEAN RICE
"Harvs had incredible balance, skills and poise for a 16-year-old. What stood out early and for most of his career was that every time anyone went to tackle him, they couldn't do it because he had this way of avoiding tackles or brushing blokes off.''
wonder how many of these guys will be there sunday? bump