Harvey said the comment was a message to his players, who have challenged so many of the competition's leaders this season without taking the four points.
"Yeah sometimes that's the art of coaching, sometimes you do it for that reason," a relaxed Harvey said at his post-match press conference.
"We've played a lot of the top sides in the first half of the draw and came so close.
"There are moments that suggest we perhaps should have won some games. We haven't, therefore I come up with that."
Playing six of the current top eight sides before round 12, Fremantle had lost those matches by an average of 14 points which included Geelong (one point) and the Western Bulldogs (three).
And Harvey was not surprised, though pleased by captain Matthew Pavlich's eight-goal performance in a new-look forward line that had Jeff Farmer playing up the ground.
"I think [Pavlich] has regularly been playing well but we tend to focus on shots on goal that override perhaps his performance," Harvey said.
"We introduced Ryley Dunn, (Ryan) Murphy, young (Chris) Mayne. And they're younger guys that we really need to complement (Chris) Tarrant, Pavlich and (Jeff) Farmer.
"So through that we were able to dictate a lot of the time what we were doing down there, which was good and it gave Pav a good look.
"It's purely there to get together, instead of just a dangerous two or three, a dangerous six."
The forward line reshuffle forced Farmer up the ground and he flourished, collecting a career-high 27 possessions while still contributing two goals.
At the other end Luke McPharlin was equally devastating, giving North just three goals up to three-quarter time while piercing its forward line on the rebound with 18 possessions and 10 marks.
"You know what, I think he has been a fantastic trade we did some years ago, and I would say he's in the best one or two full-backs in the competition," Harvey said.
"[That's if] there is a full-back anymore, because they tend to be moved around and that sort of stuff. But Luke has gone to another level in his performance."
It seemed Fremantle was dangerous just about everywhere, and the irony was not lost the coach.
"I've used that word a bit, haven't I?" he joked.
