He played over 200 games during fourteen seasons with the Essendon Football Club, winning three premierships, and was senior coach of Fremantle from 2007 to 2011.

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.

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.

[8] 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.

[9] Harvey retired as player at the end of the 1997 season, 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.

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.

[16][17] Harvey led Fremantle to win four of the seven remaining games in the 2007 season, but it wasn't enough to make the finals, finishing in eleventh place.

[20] The following year at the end of the 2009 season Fremantle under Harvey finished fourteenth on the ladder yet again with six wins and sixteen losses.

[29] On 13 August 2013, Harvey was appointed caretaker senior coach of Brisbane Lions for the remainder of the 2013 season, replacing Michael Voss who had been told his contract would not be renewed.

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.