Mark Harvey

Mark Harvey (born 11 June 1965) is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Essendon Football Club. In August 2013, he took over as interim senior coach of the Brisbane Lions following the resignation of Michael Voss as senior coach but on 3 October 2013, he resigned from the Lions. He returned to Perth with the intention of taking a year away from hands-on involvement in football.^[1] Harvey is currently serving as an assistant coach at the Essendon Football Club.^[2]

Playing career

Harvey was originally known as a skilful forward, playing that role in the 1984 and 1985 premiership sides, including kicking four goals in the 1985 premiership win. However, injuries in his later career (particularly to his ankles) meant he was used more as a defender, which reduced the stress on his body. In his role as a defender he often played as centre half-back against much taller opponents, making up for his lack of height with his aggressive attack on the football.^[3]

Harvey finished in the top five of the Essendon best-and-fairest on four occasions, winning the award in 1992. He was named in the All-Australian team in 1985 and 1993; he also played in premiership sides both those years as well as in 1984. He was also the side's leading goalkicker for the 1985 season, an unusual feat for a medium-sized forward in a premiership winning team. In 2002 he was named as the 18th greatest player to play for the club in the "Champions of Essendon" list.^[4]

In 2001 Harvey admitted that he suffered from bulimia for 3 to 4 years of his playing career, after he gained weight following a broken leg.^[5]

Coaching career

Harvey retired in 1997 after realising injuries had taken their toll on his body and he could no longer contribute to the side in the way he would like. He remained at Essendon as an assistant coach under Kevin Sheedy, and in the years since was often suggested as a possible senior coach. At the end of the 2004 season Harvey was a front-runner for a number of coaching jobs, but either wasn't offered or chose not to take each of them, and continued to be an assistant at Essendon.

However, after the end of the 2005 season, Harvey resigned as Essendon assistant coach to take up a job at Fremantle as an assistant coach to Chris Connolly. He helped Fremantle have their most successful season to date in 2006, reaching the preliminary final, but following a poor start to the 2007 season, Connolly resigned as senior coach after round 15. Harvey was then offered the caretaker role for the remainder of the season. After taking two days to consider the offer he accepted and was senior coach for the first time against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on 21 July 2007.^[6] Fremantle performed very well, scoring their highest ever score in South Australia and winning by 25 points.^[7][8] Harvey led Fremantle to win four of the seven remaining games in 2007 but it wasn't enough to make the finals, finishing in eleventh place.

On 17 September 2007 it was announced that Harvey would be the coach of Fremantle on a contract for the next three seasons.^[9]

The 2008 season did not start well for Harvey with Fremantle only winning twice in the first thirteen rounds, including a demoralising loss to the previously winless Melbourne despite leading by 50 points at half time in round seven. At the end of the 2008 season Fremantle finished fourteenth on the ladder with six wins and sixteen loses. The following year at the end of the 2009 season Fremantle finished fourteenth on the ladder yet again with six wins and sixteen loses.^[10]

In 2010 Harvey returned Fremantle to the finals after a three-year absence. Fremantle won its first three matches of a season for the first time ever; which culminated in an upset seven-point victory over the previous season's premiers, Geelong. But late in the season, Harvey rested up to half of his regular side ahead of a match against Hawthorn in Launceston and the result was a 116-point defeat, just one point off their record margin loss of 117 points suffered against Adelaide just a season earlier. But against the same opponents a fortnight later, the Dockers won its first finals match under Harvey, and its first since 2006, with a win by 5 goals. Fremantle's 2010 season ended in a disappointing defeat to Geelong at the MCG a week later.

He was involved in a nightclub fight in Darwin, Northern Territory on 17 June 2007 when he was king hit and knocked unconscious. This followed Fremantle's loss to Western Bulldogs and on the same night as Chris Tarrant was involved in an altercation with Jason McCartney.^[11]

On 13 June 2010 The Age newspaper journalist Emma Quayle revealed in her book Nine Lives: football, cancer and getting on with life on former Essendon Football Club player Adam Ramanauskas that Harvey had, 10 years earlier, suffered from a brain tumour. Following successful treatment, Harvey has remained in remission ever since.^[12]

Despite being praised for his efforts in attempting to field a fit Fremantle side late in the season when the club was suffering one of the worst injury tolls in the AFL, Mark Harvey was unexpectedly sacked on 15 September 2011 following the 2011 AFL season.^[13] He was replaced by former St Kilda coach Ross Lyon who on the same night of Harvey's dismissal had resigned from his post as Saints coach.

In November 2011, Harvey signed on as a senior assistant coach to the Brisbane Lions for the 2012 season.^[14]

On 13 August 2013, Harvey was appointed caretaker senior coach of Brisbane for the remainder of 2013, replacing Michael Voss who had been told his contract would not be renewed. Voss opted not to coach out his contract which expired at the end of the 2013 season.^[15]

On 3 October 2013, Harvey quit the Brisbane Lions to return to Perth.^[16]

On 22 October 2014, Harvey announced that he would return to Essendon as an assistant coach.^[17]

References