STUART Cochrane started at North Melbourne at the same time as Brent Harvey.

Both arrived at Arden Street as 17-year-olds in the 1995 pre-season and have been firm friends ever since.

But where Harvey is preparing to play his 400th AFL game on Saturday night, Cochrane, two months younger than the Roos star, retired at the end of 2005 after 104 games.

Cochrane has remained in football as a development coach at Port Adelaide, where he spent the last three seasons of his playing career after being traded for Michael Stevens in 2002. 

On the eve of Harvey's remarkable milestone, Cochrane spoke with AFL.com.au about his memories of the four-time All Australian and the legacy he will leave. 

The Inquirer: Boomer by the numbers

Initial impressions
"I became pretty close with Boomer pretty quickly because you tend to knock around with guys at the same age. My initial impression of him was that he was really driven. He was always a really confident person and had a lot of self-belief in what he was capable of. He was just really plucky, a really plucky little customer. Whether that was in the weights room or out on the track trying to beat you with hitting a target, he was just always up for a challenge and always really competitive at whatever he was doing." 

Joining North in the Denis Pagan-Wayne Carey era
"It was intimidating for young guys coming in. I was overawed for probably the first couple of years with some of the names that were around the place and never really felt like I had settled in, but Boomer was probably a bit different. He looked forward to mixing with the senior players and showing them what he had on the training track. He was just full of confidence and looking forward to every training session and every game. You just sort of knew that he had an ingredient in his makeup that he was going to do something special." 

Harvey's durability
"He's gone through plenty of periods where he's really been knocked around and tagged heavily but he's such a tough bugger that he keeps managing to front up and find a way to play good footy. He's just so driven and was always going to absolutely squeeze every ounce out of himself. I probably thought there might be an injury or something that was going to hold him back from having that sort of longevity, but he just has this willpower to keep going. He's also gone through different eras, different phases of how the game's been played, but he just keeps adapting and still playing really great footy." 

I will be at North Melbourne: Harvey

The person
"He just had a really good balance of being so driven and at the same time being down to earth and humble. He seems like a down-to-earth suburban footballer who just happens to play at the most elite of levels all the time. He's so close and attached to his roots back in Preston and he's always been really family oriented." 

His standing in the game
"When Kane Cornes made his retirement speech this year he said his hardest opponent was Brent Harvey. When you think of some of the star players Kane tagged, that's a massive compliment." 

Breaking Michael Tuck's record of 426 games
"I wouldn't put it past him. He just loves a challenge and he just keeps looking for the next one. He's still got the speed, he's still got the smarts and the tricks, and he keeps adapting and changing. So I couldn't see him stopping at the end of the year. I think he'll be ready to go again."