Brendan Fevola

Infobox afl player NEW
playername = Brendan Fevola
fullname = Brendan Fevola
image capt = Fevola at training


birthdate = birth date and age|1981|1|20|df=y
birthplace =
originalteam = Beaconsfield, Victoria/Dandenong Stingrays (TAC Cup)
draftpick = 38^th overall, 1998
AFL Car
heightweight = 191cm / 100kg
position = Full-forward
dead = alive
deathdate =
deathplace =
currentclub = AFL Car
guernsey = 25
years = 1999-
clubs = AFL Car
games(goals) = 164 (486)
sooyears = 2008
sooteams = flagicon|Victoria Victoria
soogames(goals) = 1 (6)
nationalyears =
nationalteams =
nationalgames(goals) =
coach = notcoach
coachyears =
coachclubs =
coachgames(wins) =
statsend = Rnd 22, 2008
careerhighlights =

*Michael Tuck Medal 2005
*Coleman Medal 2006
*All-Australian (full-forward) 2006, 2008
*Carlton leading goalkicker 2003-
*3rd - Most Career Goals for Carlton - 486*
*Only AFL Player to finish with 99 Goals for the season (2008)
*NAB Cup premiership player 2005, 2007
*Australian International Rules squad 2006 (did not play for disciplinary reasons)
* VFL-AFL Italian Team of the Century 2007
* Victorian State Representative in Hall of Fame Tribute Match
* Allen Aylett Medallist

Brendan 'Fev' Fevola (born 20 January 1981) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing with the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League.

He is a noted full-forward, having won the Coleman Medal in 2006, despite Carlton finishing last that season. He is also notable for his appearances on the Channel Nine's "The Footy Show" on Thursday nights during the season. He wears No. 25, the same number worn by former Carlton legend Alex Jesaulenko.

Football career

Early career

Fevola was recruited to Carlton with selection No. 38 overall in the 1998 AFL Draft. He made his AFL debut in Round 17, 1999 against Collingwood, receiving limited game time in his two matches late in the year.

With only 66 goals from his first 41 games, Fevola was told at the end of 2002 by coach Wayne Brittain that he was to be delisted. That same night, Brittain was sacked and replaced with ex-North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan. Pagan reversed Brittain's decision, and kept Fevola on the list. Over the 2003 season, Denis succeeded in turning Fevola into a good leading forward. "Fev", as a number two forward, took many set shots through the year, but his accuracy was poor. This improved through the 2003 season, during which he scored 63 goals.

During this time, his set shot style shifted and seemed to improve his accuracy. For drop punts, he began employing an unorthodox grip with his left hand holding the ball from the bottom. For corner shots, he began using the checkside punt on a regular basis to great effect.

2004 season

For the 2004 season, Fevola developed a ritualistic set-shot routine of thirteen steps, often taking over a minute to complete (thus attracting the ire of many media personnel). However, his accuracy and distance were enhanced, and at one point during the year, Fev's set shot record from outside fifty metres was 16.4, by far the best accuracy of any player from this range.

The most well-remembered moment of Fevola's career so far came in the dying moments of Carlton's round 11 match against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. Carlton had recovered from a dreadful start, with only inaccurate kicking from Adelaide keeping them in the contest. With three minutes to go and Adelaide ahead by 2 points, Fevola strongly held a mark just inside the boundary line, 55m out from goal on the northwest side of the ground. Despite the distance, angle, and limited run-up space, Fev kicked an amazing goal, which turned out to be the final score of the game after Graham Johncock badly missed a set shot at goal from a tight angle 30m out inside the last 10 seconds of the game.

2005 season

Now firmly entrenched as the #1 forward at Carlton, and the team's fastest sprinter over 20m, Fevola always attracted the fastest defenders who could often match him for speed and spoil his leading marks. This reduced his effectiveness in the Carlton forward-line. Also becoming a problem was a niggling groin injury he sustained in Round 12, preventing him from sprinting comfortably for the rest of the season. In this limited capacity, he still proved a useful decoy, freeing up the emerging talents Carlton had in its forward line. He had surgery over the 2005/06 off-season, and reports that the groin is fine.

2006 season

After giving up drinking and with a new outlook on his career, "Fev" dominated the Carlton forward line, kicking roughly 35% the team's goals. He finished the season at the top of the goalkicking table with 84 goals, winning the Coleman Medal by a significant margin, with betting agencies eventually suspending Coleman Medal betting after round 20 when his lead was 18 goals. He is one of the few players to have won the Coleman medal from a team that had won the wooden spoon during the same year. In a similarly dubious honour, Fevola became the first player since Mark Arceri in 1991 to finish a game as his team's only goal-scorer, when he scored all four of Carlton's goals against St Kilda in Round 8. He was selected as full-forward in the All-Australian football side at the end of the season, and was selected in the Australian International Rules team when St Kilda's Nick Riewoldt pulled out. During halftime at the 2006 AFL Grand Final between West Coast and Sydney, Fevola outran the 7 finalists for the "Grand Final Sprint" with an 8-metre handicap to be labelled the fastest man in the AFL.

2007 season

After a slow start to the season, Fevola clicked into gear and finished near the top of the leaderboard for the Coleman Medal. This included an eight-goal haul against Essendon, where his team was 48 points down going into halftime.

Carlton had no choice but to tell him to leave the club and not come back until he sorted out his role within the club. This led to rumours by Melbourne and Sydney media that he could be traded to the Sydney Swans (who had recruited former St Kilda bad boy Barry Hall only five seasons ago) by the end of that season, something that never eventuated.

2008 season

Fevola began the 2008 season slowly, before scoring 22 goals in three matches between Rounds 3 and 5. The hauls ensured that he received selection at full-forward for Victoria in the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match, in which he scored six goals and won the Allen Aylett Medal for best afield.

With stalling contract negotiations with Carlton during the season, it was rumoured that the AFL Syd had offered Fevola a AUD $3 million 4 year contract [ [http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23967296-11088,00.html Roos pours water on Fevola offer] ] fuelling speculation that he might move to Sydney as part of the Swans replacement for a troubled Barry Hall. [ [http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/swans-dismiss-fevola-factor-in-halls-woes/2008/07/08/1215282835320.html Swans dismiss Fevola factor in Hall's woes] ]

Fevola put paid to these speculations just prior to Round 18, when he agreed to a 3 year deal with the Blues reported to be worth $700,000 a season. [ [http://diehardfooty.com/brendan-fevola-signs-new-three-year-deal Brendan Fevola Signs New Three-Year Deal] ]

In Round 20, Fevola surpassed his previous best season goal tally of 84. He would finish second in the Coleman medal with a tally of 99 goals, making him the only player in AFL/VFL history to fall one goal short of triple-figures, despite scoring seven second half goals in the final game of the season. Fev's season tally was second only to Alex Jesaulenko (115 goals in 1970) for goals by a Carlton player in a season. Fevola capped off his season when he was named All Australian Forward Pocket.

Fevola was also one of six finalists in the 2008 AFL Army Award, which recognises leadership, courage and teamwork on the footy field, for a passage of play against Collingwood in Round 4 where he tackled two opponents to cause a turnover, then won the hard ball and handpassed into space for Shaun Grigg to score a goal.

Criticism

Fevola has often been criticised for his on-field body language, lack of respect for others in the wider community and general poor behaviour in the public arena. Off field incidents have included assaulting a barman during a tour of Ireland. [ [http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20679332-23211,00.html. Fevola in bar brawl] ] This resulted in Fevola being sent back to Australia which embarrassed the AFL. Annually, there is media-fuelled speculation regarding whether or not the club would become fed up with this behaviour and trade Fevola, but every year so far he has been retained. However, in 2006 the coach Denis Pagan labelled him "a perfect role model" after the turnaround of his form.Fact|date=February 2007 The "perfect role model" tag is now a distant memory considering Fevola's continuing innapropriate behaviour such as being caught on CCTV urinating on a window outside a Melbourne nightclub in March 2008. Fevola was subsequently fined $10,000 by the Club and stood down from the leadership group; he was neither suspended nor delisted by Carlton who argued that such action would not assist Brendan in addressing his issues.Many commentators are wondering what it will take for Fevola to address his behavioural issues.Most recently Brendan Fevola shocked patrons at a city bar after parading in a nightie with a sex toy protruding from his pants during Mad Monday celebrations on 1st September 2008. Fevola's costume, a pink nightie with a matching pink hat and a sex toy penis was in bad taste according to various members of the community.

Career bests

12 Goals:
During the special New Years' Eve Millennium Match against Collingwood on 31 December 1999.
8 Goals:
8.6 in Round 12, 2008 against Collingwood
8.5 in Round 13, 2004 against Richmond
8.4 in Round 3, 2008 (including 3 posters) against Essendon
8.3 in Round 19, 2006 against Hawthorn
8.2 in Round 3, 2007 against Essendon in a thrilling comeback for the Blues.
8.2 in Round 5, 2003 against North Melbourne
7 Goals:
7.3 in Round 22, 2008 against Hawthorn.
7.2 in Round 11, 2004 against Adelaide
7.2 in Round 4, 2008 against Collingwood
7.1 in Round 13, 2008 against Essendon
7.0 in Round 5, 2008 against Melbourne

He has also kicked two bags of eight in pre-season games, in the 2005 Wizard Cup grand final against West Coast, earning him the Michael Tuck Medal, and in the semi-final of the 2007 NAB Cup against North Melbourne.

Media persona/outside football

Fevola is a regular panellist on "The Footy Show" on the Nine Network, and is noted for his larrikin-like persona. Memorable appearances on the show include his appearance late in 2005 where he shaved off his trademark dreadlocks (for which he has attracted the secondary nickname "the Shaggin Wagon") for charity and performed with teammates on the annual Player's Revue singing "Achy Breaky Heart" in 2005, and "U Can't Touch This" in 2006.

On the 7 October 2005 Fevola married Alex Cheatham at St John's Church in Toorak. However, on the 12 December 2006 it was announced that they were separated after only 14 months of marriage, amid allegations of Fevola's infidelity with an Australian model, rumoured to be Lara Bingle [ [http://au.news.yahoo.com/061212/23/11qt7.html Bingle blamed for Fevola marriage break-up] ] . Alex sold her side of the story to Woman's Day and claimed in the interview that Fevola had become "disconnected" from her following the birth of Leni. Bingle later confessed to the five week affair, that being a Sydney girl, she did not know that Fevola was married until she heard his baby in the background during a phone conversation. [ [http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/09/02/1188671773182.html Bingle 'clears the decks' on Fevola affair] from brisbanetimes.com.au]

Fevola has two daughters. An adopted daughter Mia, who is Alex's child from a previous relationship and a biological daughter with Alex, Leni Jay, born 21 July 2006. Fevola and his wife Alex are have reconciled and are still together and are raising their two daughters.

In May 2006 Fevola began his career as a special comments commentator on Triple M.

Fevola has also been noted as studying criminology via correspondence at Griffith University and says that becoming a police officer is a possible career after football. Fact|date=June 2007 He has also considered the option of pursuing a punting career in the United States with the NFL, following in the footsteps of Australians Ben Graham, Darren Bennett, and more recently Saverio Rocca.

References

External links

*Carlplayer|ref=13142
*AflRleague|ref=B/Brendan_Fevola.html
* [http://www.blueseum.org/cfc/tiki-index.php?page=Brendan+Fevola Brendan Fevola Profile in Blueseum]

ee also

*List of VFL/AFL players by ethnicity
*List of Australian rules football incidents