It's time Brent Harvey relinquished the captaincy at North Melbourne to Drew Petrie. And he should do it this week.

The little man in the No.29 guernsey has been a grand servant of his club for more than a decade but as a captain and leader of men, I'm sorry to say, he manifestly falls short of what's required.

And what's required at the moment at Arden St is a skipper who either leads by example with courageous deeds on the field that inspire others to follow (think Brett Kirk, Nick Maxwell or Cameron Ling); or plays so well that his very presence lifts everyone around him (think Chris Judd, Matthew Pavlich, Jonathan Brown or Nick Riewoldt).

Harvey provides neither. He's not an in-and-under type who does the dirty work; he's a frontrunner who can't be relied upon for any sort of decent output when the going gets tough. Which might sound harsh but you'll hear it said too often among North powers-that-be for there not to be an element of truth about it.

When he's tagged by a Ling or Clint Jones or, yesterday at Fremantle, Jay van Berlo, his head drops and he seems to have little stomach for the fight. Invariably these days, that sort of close attention is enough to snuff out any Harvey influence. Yesterday, he managed seven kicks and three handballs before being injured in the last quarter. Not good enough.

Yet when he's given free rein, he becomes damaging with his speed, skills and peripheral vision. But these days, that's not something Kangaroos supporters are used to seeing too often.

In round two, when the Roos were thumped by St Kilda, Clint Jones (and others) reduced him to three kicks and two handballs for the match. The following week, West Coast coach John Worsfold inexplicably allowed Harvey to run around without a tagger. The result was 19 kicks and 25 handballs in a three-vote display.

The Kangaroos are at a delicate point in their rebuilding phase. They are fielding the youngest team in the league and getting belted regularly. What these young players need is a strong leader, a galvanising figure, someone to rally around. That will be pivotal if the club is to scale the heights it reached in the '90s, or even to get to base camp.

What they don't need to see is their captain not chasing and not tackling and not putting in desperate second efforts. That has a morale-sapping effect on everyone. And that, I'm afraid, is what Harvey is providing at the moment.

Harvey would do well to get a tape of Collingwood's Maxwell, a player of limited ability but extraordinary determination. Maxwell is no-one's idea of a champion but what he lacks in talent more than makes up for in enthusiasm and unyielding commitment. He's a born leader.

For those same reasons, Petrie is the obvious candidate to take over Harvey's mantle. He was incredibly stupid to cop a two-match in round 22 last season, when he whacked Alipate Carlisle off the ball in a meaningless fixture at Football Park.

But you've only got to see the way he marshals the forward line, the way he gees up the troops, the way he never gives up in any contest and it's plain he's the man for the job. And at 27, he's five years younger than Harvey.

Make no mistake, ‘Boomer' has had a distinguished career in the royal blue and white, overcoming shortness of stature with an array of glittering skills, baulks and feints, not to mention blistering speed. And his form when he represented the state in the Big V jumper was invariably outstanding. At the tailend of the great North era, when he was only young, Harvey was also a great contributor.

But that's the thing: he is good in strong sides, when he can run around and do his thing, unmolested. But when he's the No.1 midfielder in poor sides, which is what the Kangas are now, and likely to attract the No.1 negator on the other team, well it's almost game over. And who wants that quality in their skipper?

Harvey turned 32 a fortnight ago. He's got not much to prove to anyone as a player. But, in the interests of North's future, he should hand over the captain's armband now. And let the club start planning for its next five years which shapes as one of the most important periods in Shinboner history.