Robert Harvey Biography

Robert Harvey will join Ross Lyon's coaching department at Moorabbin after informing Hawthorn of his decision to depart. 

The two-time Brownlow medallist has spent the past 12 months working under Sam Mitchell at Waverley Park, following a decade at Collingwood and previous assistant coaching roles at the Saints and Carlton.

"On the field I always wanted to get the very best out of myself and be someone my teammates could rely on. As a coach, those values have been central to the way I go about things, and I'm excited to help the club I love emerge stronger in 2023," he said.

"I grew up at St Kilda, so to now have the opportunity to help others do the same and hopefully play a role in bringing success to the League's best fans, I cannot wait to get started."

Robert Harvey joins Hawthorn as an assistant coach under first-year senior coach Sam Mitchell.

"We believe his coaching style and method really complement the other members of our group, which gives a strong and holistic feel to our coaching squad," Hawthorn head of football Rob McCartney said.

"While Robert will bring his highly renowned football IQ and technical nous to Hawthorn, we are equally excited about the significant cultural impact he will have as we plan for the future success of our football club."

Robert Harvey says he has put a lot of effort into being the interim coach role at Collingwood following Nathan Buckley's departure and is confident of assuming the role of head coach should the opportunity arise.

"I've put my heart and soul into that nine weeks to try and get all I can out of it," Harvey said.

"I've enjoyed doing the role, I think I'm equipped to do the role - I think I can do that. In the end, what comes will come. I just want to keep coaching - I love what I do. Where that is and what that looks like, I'm not sure yet."

David Noble is named North Melbourne coach for 2021, winning a three-way race that included Collingwood assistant Robert Harvey and new Essendon assistant Daniel Giansiracusa.

St Kilda champions Stewart Loewe and Robert Harvey lead an emotional tribute for their recently-deceased former teammate, Danny Frawley at the club's 2019 Trevor Barker Award.

"He was the man I just adored, first as a teammate, then as my skipper and then as one of my very best mates," Loewe said of Frawley.

"Harvs and I were both kids when we started our careers at St Kilda and like so many others, he helped shape us into the men we both are today.

"He taught us how to compete, he had enormous empathy, he had an insatiable hunger to drive himself to be the best he could be."

Harvey, who played alongside Frawley for the final eight years of his career that spanned from 1984 to 1995, remembered the full-back's final match against Footscray.

"I'll just never forget the emotion we had that day. I clearly remember thinking, footy won't be the same without him.

"I was just saddened in the days, the week after thinking 'What are we going to do without Spud again?' The laughs, the banter, the dinners, the presence only Spud could bring, it was never going to be there again.

"Unfortunately, we're here again but this is forever. When our old crew gets together, and we drink beers and we tell stories about times passed, it's just changed forever now."

Robert Harvey inducted as a St Kilda Legend by another club great, Tony Lockett.

"It's a great honour and privilege to elevate the great Robert Harvey to Legend status, which is something he thoroughly deserves," Lockett said.

"Robert is one of, if not the greatest, players to ever play for this club.

"He is, quite simply, a phenomenal person and a great footballer."

After being offered an expanded role as an assistant coach at Collingwood, former Saints champion Robert Harvey declines an interview for the head coaching position at St Kilda.

"I hadn't quite got my head around what had happened and had just got a new role at Collingwood which I was obviously very excited about," Harvey told radio station 3AW.

"In the end I had a think about it and just felt like where I was at with Collingwood and where I was heading, I was really happy with what I was doing and declined to have an interview."

Robert Harvey is inducted into the AFL's Hall of Fame.

"When I got the phone call, it made me really take a step back and reflect a bit on when I played, which already seems so long ago," Harvey said of his induction.

"It's just a great honour. I suppose it's really nice recognition, from my family's point of view as well."

Scott Pendlebury says he can't wait to learn more from a player he used to idolise - former Saint and now Collingwood midfield coach Robert Harvey.

"I was really happy to get someone like 'Harvs' down. I've played against him and even in his twilight years he was a brilliant player," Pendlebury said.

"It's going to be a great opportunity for all us midfielders to seek him out and find out what made him tick and what he focused on, because to play at such a high standard like he did for so long has got to be a motivating factor for all us midfielders."

St Kilda legend Robert Harvey joins the Magpies as their midfield coach just days after walking out on the Saints.

"There is no doubt that Robert's character and work ethic will help drive our young midfield group," Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said.

"[He] is the perfect coach to guide the likes of [Scott] Pendlebury, [Dale] Thomas, [Luke] Ball, [Sharrod] Wellingham and even Dane Swan to the next level of performance as he did so often throughout his own career."

Robert Harvey says his decision to leave St Kilda was not based on resentment after being overlooked for the senior coaching job.

"I knew I was inexperienced and I knew it was going to be hard to swing that vote, but I thought I could do it and I pushed hard," Harvey said.

"Obviously I'm disappointed to miss out, but no more disappointed than any of the other seven candidates that presented in that first round of presentations. It certainly doesn't change the fact that I love the club and I always will."

St Kilda assistant coaches Robert Harvey and Steven King have been granted early releases from their contracts.

"My decision to leave the St Kilda Football Club was a difficult one. I have a great love for the club and a strong desire to one day return to the club in the future," Harvey said.

"I believe my coaching development will be best served in a different environment where I can continue to gain the skills required to become a senior coach."

Reports suggest Robert Harvey is set to leave St Kilda for a job as an assistant to Nathan Buckley at Collingwood.

"In being completely transparent, I met with Robert today and we would love him to be involved ... but he's got some other things he wants to weigh up," recently appointed St Kilda coach Scott Watters told Triple M radio.

"Really, it's in his court. I want what's best for him and he's got to make that call. He's got strong ambitions to become the best coach he wants to be and that might [mean] going somewhere else."

New Saints assistant coach Robert Harvey says he knows he has to make a conscious effort to distance himself from his former teammates.

"I obviously know a lot of the players but that won't stop me doing the job I have to do, and that's to get the best out of them," he said.

"A few personnel have changed, certainly amongst the coaches there are a lot of big changes. The players are still the same driven bunch as they were when I left. They are still really hungry and I could see that when I left."

Robert Harvey leaves Carlton to become an assistant coach at his old club, St Kilda.

"We all look forward to working with him for a number of years to come," Saints head coach Ross Lyon said.

"With a brilliant football mind and coaching experience, Robert is sure to add a great amount of depth to our coaching department next year."

Former St Kilda stalwart Robert Harvey has been promoted into a new coaching role with Carlton after serving as a development coach in 2009.

St Kilda champion Robert Harvey says Max Hudghton is a victim of coach Ross Lyon's ruthless pursuit of a premiership after the popular defender failed to make the 2009 grand final side to face Geelong.

"For a bloke that's put in so much it's hard, but that's just part and parcel of footy. That's how brutal the business is and obviously St Kilda have only won one (premiership)," Harvey said.

"Ross is trying to get that second one and nothing is going to stand in his way.

"Some people don't understand why it would make such a difference in the end but that's just the way it is. There's a coldness almost about that quest to win another flag."

As St Kilda prepare for their 2009 Grand Final, former Saints champion Robert Harvey admits the pain of St Kilda's grand final loss in 1997 "never goes away".

"It's something you can't describe," Harvey said.

"I'm just glad that I did that and experienced the week and running out.

"No matter what happens to the Saints this week, that'll never go away, and you don't understand at the time the impact that it does have."

Hawthorn, St Kilda and Melbourne have temporarily retired the guernseys of champions Shane Crawford, Robert Harvey and David Neitz.

Retired St Kilda great Robert Harvey has capped a decorated AFL career with the Madden Medal.

Robert Harvey announces that he will retire from football at the end of the year.

"I'm sure it's no surprise to many but I'd just like to announce my retirement effective at the end of the season, whenever that may be for us. I'm very happy and honoured to have stretched my career out as long as I did," Harvey said.

"I'm very appreciative to the club and to Ross and the coaching staff for every opportunity they have given me to play until I'm 37 years of age.

"I think I had a feeling in myself that the time was right. You think you have that feeling a few times and it is hard to know when the time is right, but I know within myself that it is the right time for the club, it is the right time for myself and they are the two main parties.

"There are a lot of young guys at the club and we are in better shape this year with the younger guys coming through. I've had 21 chances at a flag so I can't complain. I've had a great run."