IN HIS own words, the list of goals Harvie Cooke set himself this year was "ridiculous".
But then, one by one, he started crossing them off.
"I wanted to win the League best and fairest," Cooke told AFL.com.au. "I wanted to be All-Australian, I wanted to make the Vic Metro team. I did surprise myself that I managed to tick them all off.
"It was good fun. It was pretty unexpected to win the Morrish. I missed six games, just because of the champs, so to win that was pretty good. It was nice to get that recognition. It was just a good reflection of the way I've gone about my footy. I wanted to have a consistent year and I put the work in."
Cooke's form with the Northern Knights sparked his campaign. Playing predominantly through the midfield, the combative 176cm onballer stormed clear to win the competition's Morrish Medal as its League best and fairest.
He averaged 24.7 disposals, 4.9 tackles, 5.4 inside 50s and kicked 13 goals from 14 games for the Knights, helping him poll 23 votes to down Victoria's best players and join the likes of Clayton Oliver, Hugh McCluggage, Jack Higgins and Colby McKercher as previous winners.
But he would have traded it all for a star-studded Knights team to not have exited the season as it did. Having drawn its wildcard final with Eastern Ranges, it lost via a golden point. The next week, it was then downed by a kick after the siren against the Sandringham Dragons in a quarter-final.
"To be honest, I would give up all of the accolades to have won that premiership with Northern. It was a little bit bittersweet. If we did win that with the Knights, it would have been amazing. But I'm pretty proud of myself," Cooke said.
"You can't script it. It was shocking. Golden point, which we'd briefly touched on during training on the Thursday before that. We knew what we had to do if it was going to happen, but the way it happened – those two weeks – just went so fast.
"To be honest, it was just shocking. It wasn't great."
Cooke lingers on the thought, particularly the quarter-final loss to the Dragons. It was his Vic Metro teammate, Albert Macgowan, who drilled the set shot from nearly 50m out on the siren to send the Knights packing.
"After the siren," Cooke said. "Bloody Albert."
Cooke had not only been Vic Metro teammates with Macgowan, but teammates in the national carnival's All-Australian side as well. That was another of his lengthy goals already ticked off in 2026.
Spending more time forward with Vic Metro – where Cooke is equally adept at marking overhead and hitting the scoreboard, as well as pressuring on ground level – the youngster enjoyed a standout carnival.
He averaged 17.5 disposals and a goal per game to be named at half-forward in the tournament's All-Australian team, enjoying his best game against South Australia where he finished with three goals from 18 touches.
It saw him finish fifth in Larke Medal voting behind only Western Australia's Heath Mellody and Leo Steed, Brisbane Academy prospect Caylen Murray and his Vic Metro teammate in Jordan Knapp.
"I think my versatility is my biggest strength," Cooke said.
"Being able to play both tall and small when I'm forward. Then I got play a bit of inside as well. I've been playing mostly in the midfield at Metro and Knights, but I like that versatility. I like kicking goals, but I do like the midfield as well. I probably like a bit of both, to be honest."
That positional versatility, born from Cooke's elite athletic traits, now has him rocketing up draft boards across the country. Many clubs view the Northern Knights prospect among the top 20 talents and as a likely first-round pick.
That standing was solidified at this year's Telstra AFL Draft Combine where Cooke excelled across the testing to finish top five in the 2km time trial (6.08 minutes), top five in agility (7.962 seconds) and top 10 in the running vertical jump (89cm).
It's those type of traits that has many clubs viewing Cooke as a potential small forward at the next level. If that's the case, he has an otherwise underrated Collingwood goalkicker as his ideal role model.
"I like watching Lachie Schultz when I'm forward," Cooke said.
"I grew up supporting Richmond and I always used to watch 'Dusty' (Martin) and the way he went about it, especially with his finals performances. But I really like how Lachie's able to play tall and small. He can take an overhead contested mark and I love the way he puts pressure on the footy. He's really good."