Although Robert Harveywas still a significant contributor – he finished third in St Kilda's best andfairest and won his second E.J. Whitten Medal after his performance against South Australia – theSaints slipped to 12^th on the ladder.

It ultimately saw Ken Sheldon'stenure as coach end. Stan Alves was his replacement for the 1994 season,bringing a hard-nosed edge to the group.

"After playing finals in1992, we struggled in 1993. Stan replaced Ken after the season and he broughtwith him a new discipline to the place and a new style," Harvey said.

But Alves' first two seasonswere tough. The Saints finished 13^th and 14^threspectively in 1994 and 1995 and at the conclusion of the '94 season, Tony"Plugger" Lockett left the Saints and headed for Sydney.

"We all knew he wanted togo – and he probably needed to go – because there were periods when he wasn'tenjoying it at St Kilda and Sydneywas a good match for him. In the end, it was good for both parties. He'sprobably the best player we've ever had and he's the best player I've ever seen,"Harvey said.

But the club's dip in form and theloss of "Plugger" didn't stop Harvey.

He won his second best andfairest award in 1994 and was named All-Australian for the second time, despitemissing six matches with a groin injury. Hamstring and shoulder problems alsohindered him in 1995, but he still racked up the accolades.

Harvs captained St Kilda for thefirst time in one match and won received his third All-Australian guernsey. Healso represented Victoria against South Australia at theMCG, the match which honoured E.J. Whitten before his passing.

"I remember the bigbuild-up to it. E.J. was very sick and he was in the rooms before the game andDanny Frawley was calling players over one by one to have a word with Ted,because Ted couldn't see by that stage. It was pretty emotional. It was a bigday and we had a big win and a lot of it was on the back of E.J," Harvey said.

The Saints showed solid improvement in 1996, particularlywhen they claimed the pre-season competition title. St Kilda defeated Carlton by 58 points at Waverley Parkin front of 66,888 – the third biggest pre-season/night series grand finalcrowd.

The significance of the win could not be underestimated.

"That was pretty huge at the time. We hadn'texperienced anything like that before and it gave us a lot of self-belief andeven though we struggled that year, the building blocks were in place," Harvey said.

"We drafted really well with Aussie Jones, Joel Smithand Matty Lappin coming to the club and we started to get our acttogether."

It was a year of continued progression at the Saints, while Harvey continued to rackup the gongs – winning his third E.J. Whitten Medal against The Allies, hisfourth All-Australian award, and finishing third in the club's best andfairest.

It was also the prelude to St Kilda's finest season since1971. But early on it didn't appear that way.

"We had some really bad losses early in the year –winning just one of our first five matches – and we had a meeting up in the gymand it was a really hard-hitting meeting. After a while, Stan left us byourselves and then a lot of commitments were made in that meeting and it turnedus around a bit," Harveysaid.

From there, 1997 turned into a massive season personally andfrom a team point of view.

He won his third best and fairest, was named All-Australianfor the fifth time and represented Victoriayet again. But his greatest achievements came in September when he won theBrownlow Medal and played in the grand final against Adelaide.

But both remarkable achievements had their own twists.

First of all, his Brownlow Medal victory occurred afterBulldog Chris Grant was ruled ineligible due to a suspension during the season.Grant finished with 27 votes, while Harveygained 26. He was still a thoroughly deserving winner, despite branding it a"hollow victory" at the time.

"I said that because I didn't really know what wasgoing on and it hadn't really registered with me (that Grant was ineligible)and because it hadn't happened before, it felt funny –that's why I said it atthe time," Harveysaid.

"At the end of the day, it was close and I didn'treally think about it much, because we were playing in the grand final."

Harveyremembered the build-up to the grand final, but found the match a blur – andwith reason. The Saints went down to Adelaideby 31 points.

"The whole finals series was incredible. We won in thefirst week and then went into the prelim against NorthMelbourne – it was an unbelievable feeling. Training with 10,000people at Moorabbin was a massive buzz and even though we lost the grand final,I'm so glad I've at least experienced that. It was a week I'll neverforget," Harveysaid.

"I don't remember much about the match now. I rememberlittle bits and pieces and it was a great week with the parade as well. We hadwon nine matches in a row coming into the grand final, but unfortunately wecouldn't produce our best on the day, but it was still a fantastic year."

The grand final proved to be the highlight and lowlight of Harvey's career.

Robert Harvey – 1993-97

1993: 17 matches, 265 kicks, 58 marks, 169 handballs, 434 disposals,eight goals, 10 behinds

1994: 18 matches, 262 kicks, 42 marks, 212 handballs, 474disposals, six goals, six behinds

1995: 17 matches, 234 kicks, 47 marks, 217 handballs, 451 disposals,10 goals, eight behinds

1996: 21 matches, 301 kicks, 70 marks, 296 handballs, 597disposals, 12 goals, 12 handballs

1997: 25 matches, 453 kicks, 90 marks, 303 handballs, 756disposals, 18 goals, 19 behinds