Brent Harvey responds to criticism after controversial 50m penalty against West Coast
June 08, 2015 9:27PM
NORTH Melbourne champion Brent Harvey has fired back at the haters after coming under fire for extracting a controversial 50m penalty.
Harvey claimed the penalty deep in the last quarter of Saturday night’s thrilling win over West Coast at Blundstone Arena.
The 37-year-old laid a fair tackle on Matthew Priddis, close to the boundary line on the wing, to earn himself a holding-the-ball decision.
With the umpire blindsided, the wily 394-game veteran tapped the ball out of the Eagle midfielder’s hands and cheekily appealed for the penalty.
Harvey refused to back away from the incident on Monday despite an avalanche of feedback on social media.
“At the time of the game it was crucial and I thought a 50m penalty was hugely to our advantage so I took the opportunity,” Harvey told ABC Grandstand.
“A lot of people said it was cheating, I think it was cheeky and opportunist at the very best.
“Would I do it again? Absolutely, I do a lot of things to win and I’m not ashamed of that.
“It’s opportunist and I took that opportunity to give our team an advantage.”
Harvey played on from the penalty to set up a shot-at-goal for Lindsay Thomas.
Fox Footy expect Jonathan Brown praised Harvey for his smarts in the situation.
“That’s good leadership ... I thought he did really well,” Brown said On The Couch.
Harvey was central to the Kangaroos 10-point win with 24 disposals (eight contested) and a big third-quarter goal.
But it was his last quarter which proved the difference, racking 11 disposals including four score involvements and a whopping 224 metres gained.
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