North Melbourne's Drew Petrie has taken a glass-half-full view of the three-week ban handed out to fellow veteran Brent Harvey by the AFL tribunal.
Harvey will miss clashes with Adelaide and Melbourne but, most important, will be the likely elimination final to follow.
Daniel Wells is also out of Saturday's match against the Crows in Hobart due to a one-game suspension, robbing the Kangaroos of two of their best players.
"You certainly can't replace Boomer ... he's had as good a year as any of the 19 he's had at the footy club," Petrie told Fox Sports News.
"Two of our prime ball movers and the guys that set up our play (are out), but the test goes to the next bloke in line who fills the gap this week.
"It will give someone else an opportunity ... we've got guys performing well (in the reserves)."
North confirmed on Wednesday morning they would not appeal the penalty dished out to Harvey for throwing Western Bulldogs tagger Liam Picken to the ground and pinning him with a forearm to the throat.
Petrie suggested the 36-year-old would be "very flat".
"He loves the game and it'd be so shattering for him to know he's going to miss the next three games," he said.
"I tried to ring him this morning and he didn't answer.
"It's almost as though it's a greater penalty, given he's going to miss our first final."
As debate continues to swirl about the tactics Picken and other shutdown specialists use, Petrie said coach Brad Scott would be both disappointed and empathetic with the 382-game veteran.
"I'm sure Brad will be disappointed. You just don't want to give umpires and tribunals an opportunity to pay free kicks or suspend players," he said.
"But I think Brad will understand Brent's frustration at times, given he's 380-odd games in and still getting tagged really closely each week."
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