A day after Melbourne's retiring captain David Neitz was hailed as one of his club's finest, North Melbourne's Brent Harvey has won similar praise ahead of his 250th AFL game against the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.

Kangaroos skipper Adam Simpson placed Harvey in the same exalted company as the club's games record-holder Glenn Archer, premiership captain Wayne Schimmelbusch and champion centre half-forward Wayne Carey.

"He's one of our greatest," Simpson said of Harvey.

"He's won three best and fairests he's going to break the games record eventually and he'll probably go down as one of our greatest players.

"The least we can do is have a win for him on the weekend."

Harvey, 30, and a three-time All-Australian, has shown no signs of his form dropping off as he approaches the twilight of his career.

After finishing equal runner-up in the Brownlow medal last year, Harvey has been the Kangaroos standout player this season, leading the club's possessions with 192 after eight games.

Simpson said his club had a history of playing well in milestone games and cited the team's 26-point win against the Bulldogs on Archer's 300th match in round 13 last year.

But Simpson admitted the team would have to match the Dogs in winning more of the contested ball - a hallmark of their unbeaten early season run.

With the Kangaroos facing a testing period in the next six weeks, including games against Brisbane at the Gabba, reigning premiers Geelong and the undefeated Hawthorn, Simpson said the team had to claim the Dogs' scalp to remain in touch.

"We've probably beaten the teams we've meant to have beaten and fallen short against Adelaide and Hawthorn," Simpson said.

"The Doggies are in great form and we're got a really tough six weeks coming up.

"We're playing some top teams and yeah you've got to win a few of these."

"Between third and 14th is not much and if you win the close ones, you're in the hunt and if you lose those close ones - you look at Fremantle - you do fall away pretty quickly."

Simpson said the club had no problems adjusting to the new interchange rules but said the players would have to be more careful when coming off unannounced because of fatigue.

"If you want to come off, you might have to wave to the bench, you can still come off, it just might take a few seconds to organise," Simpson said.

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