Harvey announced his retirement from football at the Roos' best and fairest dinner at Docklands on Friday night, saying he did not want to wear the jumper of another club.

It came after North Melbourne delisted him after an extraordinary 21 years at the club.

Pagan was Harvey's first AFL senior coach – the small midfielder and forward arrived at Arden Street for the 1996 season and Pagan held the reigns from 1993 to 2002.

Now working in Melbourne real estate, Pagan said Harvey had been a wonderful player whose achievements showed him to be one of North's very best.

Pagan said he could not say whether Harvey's decision to retire was correct – only the player knew what was right for him.

But even if he had gone on to play elsewhere, Roos fans would always see him as a true North Melbourne person.

Doug Hawkins played one season at Fitzroy after Footscray delisted him and he was still a much-loved figure at Whitten Oval, Pagan said.

Geelong supporters still considered James Kelly a Cats man, even though the club dumped him at the end of 2015 and he signed up with Essendon.

"You're a long time out of it, you've got to make the most of the opportunities you have," he said. "He's always be a North Melbourne great, whether he played for another club for 12 months or two years."

At 38, Harvey was the oldest listed player in the AFL, but still enjoyed good form in 2016.

He finished fifth in the club's best and fairest count, behind Robbie Tarrant, Jack Ziebell, Sam Gibson and Daniel Wells.

Harvey had signalled he was open to the idea of continuing his AFL career at another club in 2017, but it is unclear whether he received any offers.

Some fans were upset by the way senior coach Brad Scott announced just before the finals series that Harvey and fellow veterans Michael Firrito, Drew Petrie and Nick Dal Santo would not be playing for North Melbourne next season.

"A lot of people have thought I'm angry with the club, I can assure you that is not the case," Harvey said. "I have been pretty solemn about it all, but I guess that's just my way of dealing with it."

"I look forward to bringing my family down to watch the boys do their stuff each week."

Harvey said he thought he was in good enough form to play on, but decided against it.

"My decision not to pull on another team's jumper is the reason I'd like to announce my retirement from the AFL," he said.

Wells is an unrestricted free agent and other clubs reportedly have shown an interest in poaching him from the Roos.