Harnett not afraid to keep mixing it up on defence
Coach calls Riggers’ defender ‘old-school warrior’
For much of the past two National Lacrosse League seasons, Greg Harnett has been on the outside looking in.
But it’ll take more than injuries and suspensions to quash his spirit.
“It depends on perspective, I guess,” the Calgary Roughnecks’ defender mused. “I do get to play the game I love. I’ve been held back a little bit. It’s been tough. But for me, I don’t look back at that too much. I just look forward and I’m happy to be back now. The team’s playing well so it’s nice to get back in the lineup and contribute, to say the least.”
Harnett — in his seventh season in Calgary — has played in just four games this campaign. He was injured in the third outing against Vancouver and returned two games ago in Denver. His “upper body” problem is now resolved.
“Everything ’s back to normal,” he relayed. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a bit out of shape, you might say, in Colorado, being off two and half months and not being able to play at game speed. That one was a bit of a struggle, but last game I felt a lot more comfortable and my cardio was a lot better.”
“Greg is that old-school warrior type,” said head coach Curt Malawsky. “He’s very physical. He doesn’t put up with anything. His preparation is great. He always has his game face on. His heart is massive. He cares so much for the team and he’ll do whatever it takes to win. That’s Greg Harnett in a nutshell.”
He’s been a welcome addition to the Riggers’ defence, one which will be well tested on Saturday night when the Toronto Rock come to town (7 p.m. start time). While Calgary, 5-7, is looking to solidify a playoff spot in the West Division, Toronto, 6-6, is jockeying for position in the East with four other teams.
Harnett’s presence on the floor is quickly felt, particularly by the opposition. He is sandpaper personified and for that he’s had to pay a heavy price. Last year, he was handed a one-game suspension after a preseason infraction and then, during the regular season, a controversial second match penalty resulted in a six-game banishment as deemed by NLL rules. That meant just eight games played as he finished the year on the injured list.
In spite of that, the 27-year-old — originally from Orangeville, Ont. — isn’t about to change his energetic style of play.
“I won’t get too much into that decision made by the league,” Harnett said. “I didn’t agree with it and neither did quite a few people. It was pretty controversial, but I wouldn’t have the success that I’ve had if I didn’t play the way that I do. For me, I just continue to play hard-nose D and more so I want to be reliable and I want to be a guy that you can look at to be a solid defender and do his job correctly. I’m not out there to wreck guys or anything like that; I just want to stop the other team from scoring.”
“A lot of penalties Greg gets I do believe are reputation calls,” added Malawsky. “But the message to him is, don’t change what you do. Just do what we need you to do. I think sometimes he gets painted with the wrong brush from past history, but his game isn’t going to change. He’s making sure he’s one of our top defenders.”
Harnett, who works in sales for a roofing company in Victoria, admits he was disappointed when his brother Jon, with whom he’d toiled on the Calgary defence for six years, was let go last year. The latter is currently on the Vancouver Stealth injured list.
“It’s a business and decisions are made,” Harnett pointed out. “We’ve moved on from all of that. He’s moved on to Vancouver to have some success and his career is far from over.”
For the second weekend in a row, Calgary welcomes an Eastern team that is playing for its playoff life. The Roughnecks notched a huge win in Toronto in early February, 16-8, but they’re expecting a real struggle.
“The big thing in this league is that there are no easy games,” said Harnett. “It’s tough to win night in and night out. But we have a great team, we’re very focused and we know if we bring our best we can beat any team on any given night.”