When the North skipper runs onto Metricon Stadium to take on Gold Coast, it will the 312th time he has done so at AFL level.
Harvey said he was humbled to equal Archer's record last Sunday against Adelaide. With much modesty, he also said he was "embarrassed" he'd overtaken the games tallies of North legends such as Wayne Schimmelbusch (306) and Keith Greig (294).
But what can he expect this Saturday when the record becomes his in his own right? Will it be an emotional occasion or just another game?
This week, kangaroos.com.au spoke with four former greats who've been there and done that - Doug Hawkins, Kevin Bartlett, Tony Shaw and Simon Madden.
Below, in their own words, they share their recollections of breaking their clubs' games records.
But, first, Hawkins had this to say about Harvey: "I'm a huge fan of Brent Harvey. As a kid I grew up barracking for the Kangaroos."
"Keith Greig was my hero. He was a Kangaroos champion and Brent's gone past him, which is a great achievement. He's been an absolute champion of the footy club."
DOUG HAWKINS, Western Bulldogs
Previous games record-holder: Ted Whitten (321)
Record-breaking game: Round 17, 1994, Western Oval
Result: Footscray 17.11 (113) d Geelong 13.7 (85)
His statistics: 23 possessions, seven marks, one Brownlow Medal vote
At the end of the day, it's a great honour to break a club record of someone as great as 'EJ' (Whitten).
I remember the day clearly. We hadn't been able to beat Geelong for a while. I'd been struggling with form.
The week before we'd played Richmond and I think I had about three or four kicks and four handballs (it was two kicks and one handball).
I was really a bit of an embarrassment, and when you're about to take the record off someone as great as Ted Whitten, you want to be able to earn that honour.
I was very nervous before the game because I was 34 and nearly on my last legs. I started on the bench, which wasn't ideal. But I had one of my best mates, Steve MacPherson, sitting next to me there, which made me feel a bit more relaxed.
About 10 minutes into the first quarter, Gary Ablett snr cleaned up a young Rohan Smith, which got me onto the ground. I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't help thinking: 'You bewdy, get me on.'
I came on and went to the half-back flank and played a kick behind the play, where I was able to read the game.
Being at the Whitten Oval was a huge bonus. I knew the ground that well - I'd played most of my footy as a young kid there - and there was a huge crowd. A lot of western suburbs people rocked in, which made even better.
I had a good game, which was a relief. I even got a vote in the Brownlow Medal.
I had a pretty special relationship with Ted. He was from Braybrook, I was from Braybrook. We both had a knockabout nature. We were characters, sometimes probably villains. We both loved our footy and EJ was one of the all-time greats and a great bloke to top it off.
Running out onto the ground that day before the game, he gave me an old flick pass. I said, "Teddy, you can't do that anymore."
He said, "Get out there, knackers, and get a kick. Stick it up 'em."
I remember having a few beers with Teddy afterwards and he was fantastic.
Years later (in round 18, 2006), I got the chance to be at the MCG when Chris Grant passed my record, against the Tigers.
That was pretty special, too. Teddy had said to me, "Dougie, somebody will break your record. They're there to be broken."
And Chris came along and what a great player he was at the Bulldogs.
Young Ted [Whitten jnr] couldn't be at that game, so I asked him, "Do you mind if I give the flick pass across to 'Granty'?"
He said: "No, you go and do it. Dad would be proud it."
KEVIN BARTLETT, Richmond
Previous games record-holder: Jack Dyer (312)
Record-breaking game: Round 15, 1979, Sydney Cricket Ground*
Result: Richmond 22.20 (152) d Fitzroy 20.15 (135)
His statistics: 40 disposals, 3.3
*At the time, this was celebrated as the day Bartlett broke Dyer's record, which was then listed as 310 games. However, AFL history consultant Col Hutchinson told afl.com.au Dyer was subsequently credited with two games in the 1930s when he had been 19th man but had not played any game time. This took his total to 312 games.
To further confuse matters, Bartlett is now credited with having played his 307th game, not his 311th, on his 'record-breaking' day. This occurred because players who played for Victoria on the same day as their club were previously credited with a game towards their club games tally. When these games were removed it meant Barlett played his 311th game in round 19, 1979, against Footscray at the Western Oval, and his record-breaking 313th game in round 21, 1979, against Geelong at Kardinia Park.
When I first started out, Jack Dyer was such an iconic person - he was 'Captain Blood', a legendary coach and captain and a huge figure on TV.
I met him after I got badly injured in the under-19s. Jack came in and saw me in the rooms and I think he had a bit of an interest in me from there.
So I got to know Jack very well over the years. So, to get to the stage of breaking his record was something I didn't think was possible when I first started out.
But he was fantastic and so gracious to me when I got there. I remember Jack sending me a telegram with words to the effect: "I couldn't think of a better person to break my record. Good luck."
It was a nice moment.
I didn't speak to him on the actual day but I'm pretty certain I spoke to him the day before and I met him down at the clubrooms. He congratulated me. We may have even had a photo taken, too.
There was a bit of confusion in those days in terms of players' games tallies (*see above). Jack's record at that time was 310 games. So when I played my 311th game, it was in Sydney against Fitzroy, that's when the big banner was there. I'm pretty certain I played pretty well that day, from my hazy memory.
That was one of the first games of the push into Sydney. [Richmond coach] Tony Jewell and I went up there during the week and did radio interviews leading into the game.
I remember my mum came up for the match, too.
The next year, I broke John Rantall's VFL record of 336 games, against Carlton [in the qualifying final] at Waverley Park. I played well that day too (he kicked 6.3 in a best-on-ground performance).
It's nice to play well in milestone games. Unfortunately, as you get towards the end of your career, your chances of doing that become slimmer, because you might be depreciating a bit as a player.
But I had a few years let in me at that stage, so I was probably able to muster up a bit of energy.
It was a great honour to hold the club record and, equally, to hold the AFL record.
The Slattery Media Group is publishing Kevin Bartlett's autobiography KB: A Life in Football, which be released on August 1, 2011.
TONY SHAW, Collingwood
Previous games record-holder: Gordon Coventry (306)
Record-breaking game: Round 18, 1994, Western Oval
Result: Footscray 13.9 (87) d Collingwood 7.13 (55)
His statistics: Five disposals, five tackles (Shaw was injured early in the game)
One thing that was quite funny was that on the back of my record-breaking banner, the Collingwood cheer squad had put a message of congratulations to Dougie Hawkins, because he had broken the Western Bulldogs' games record the week before.
I remember thinking it was a bit odd I was sharing the moment with Dougie.
But I'm a good mate with Doug and no doubt he thought it was all pretty funny.
It was good sportsmanship on behalf of our cheer squad, I suppose.
We got beaten that day and we were beaten in my 300th game, earlier that year against North Melbourne. So both of my milestone games were bad ones.
Getting to the record said more about my durability than anything. The way I went about my footy, I was in survival mode nearly every week.
The name Coventry was synonymous with Collingwood for such a long period of time and Gordon was one of the legends of our club.
One of the Coventrys wrote me a nice letter of congratulations in the lead-up to the game. I can't remember if it was Mrs Coventry or another family member. It just said, "Well done, Gordon would be proud". It was nice.
When you retire, your records means more to you. Because of the way the games played now - it's pretty brutal - I don't know whether anybody's going to knock it off.
But if someone breaks it one day, I'll be rapt and I'll shake his hand and away we'll go.
It's nice to have a bit of history at the club, but things move on.
SIMON MADDEN, Essendon
Previous games record-holder: Dick Reynolds (320)
Record-breaking game: Round 21, 1989, Sydney Cricket Ground
Result: Sydney Swans 15.20 (110) d Essendon 15.14 (104)
His statistics: 10 possessions, four marks, 11 hit-outs
There was a lot of publicity about me breaking Dick's record.
I remember getting interviewed beforehand. There was a press conference up in the social club. I turned up in casual clothes and there was a cast of thousands there. I thought "Oh, hang on. This is kind of important, isn't it?"
I have no recollection of the game. When you play that many games, it's all a blur. It's a long time ago too, and there's only bits and pieces you remember.
The real honour for me was when people started talking about me in the same sentence as Dick Reynolds. He was rightly called 'King Richard'.
When people start talking about the things he's done and the things you've done at the same time, that's the great honour in it, I think. That's the thing you remember, more so than breaking the record.
I'd spoken to Dick a number of times in the years before that. I'd never seen him play but just in speaking with the bloke there was an aura about him.
Dick lived in Queensland by that stage but he came down, either the week of the game or the week after, I'm not sure.
I've got a booklet that marked the occasion, with his photo and my photo in it. I can remember getting Dick's signature on it at one stage. Even though I'd played more games than him, I was still like an autograph hunter, trying to get Dick Reynolds' autograph.
I think Dick was quite happy to see the record go. He had a few other records that would be hard to beat anyway. I think it's just the nature of things, life moves on.
You look at 'Fletch' (Dustin Fletcher, who has played 337 games) at Essendon.
He just keeps powering along you don't know how long he'll last.
But the way he's playing in two or three seasons, you might be asking him what it's like to pass my total.
