NORTH Melbourne has retired Brent Harvey’s no. 29 jumper indefinitely in recognition of his record-breaking career.

Harvey broke Michael Tuck’s AFL games record of 426 games this season before eventually powering onto 432 games.

In a shock development the club made the decision to forcefully retire Harvey at 38 despite another exceptional 36-goal season.

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But he decided against playing on elsewhere and will return to the club from next Tuesday in a part-time mentoring role for at least the next two years.

media_camera End of an era: North will retire Boomers’ No 29 jersey

The Roos said it was the perfect way to recognise Harvey’s exceptional career at the club.

Harvey said he was humbled by the decision to retire the jumper.

“I didn’t expect the number 29 to be retired, I think it’s a fantastic gesture though from the football club,” he said.

type_quote_start “[I’m] obviously very privileged that the club have chosen to do that.” type_quote_end

Clubs rarely retire jumpers in the AFL or do so only for exceptional circumstances.

Collingwood is yet to put Darren Millane’s no. 42 jumper back into circulation 25 years after his death.

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Harvey will start back at the club as an employee next week to coincide with the arrival of the club’s seven national draft and rookie list selections.

“It’s my first day is it? How do we explain that?’’ he said.

“I’ll do some skills work with them and work pretty closely with some of the other coaches, probably more the development coaches.

media_camera This year saw Boomer break Michael Tuck’s AFL games record of 426 games

“Really excited to sink my teeth into something new and it will be great to hang around the club for another couple of years.

“A few years ago when Brady Rawlings retired, he came back and worked with the guys when they got drafted.

He just taught them a little bit about the history and how hard you need to train to become an elite footballer, so if I can share a little bit of my experience with them and hopefully teach them something along the way, that’d be pretty cool I reckon.”