Brendan Fevola
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| Personal Info | |
|---|---|
| Birth | 20 January 1981, |
| Recruited from | Beaconsfield, Victoria/Dandenong U18 (TAC Cup) |
| Height/Weight | 191cm / 100kg |
| Playing Career¹ | |
| Debut | Round 17, July 25, 1999, Carlton vs. Collingwood, at Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Team(s) | Carlton (1999-)
124 games, 328 goals |
| ¹ Statistics to end of 2006 season | |
| Career Highlights | |
| |
Brendan 'Fev' Fevola (born January 20, 1981) is an Australian rules footballer, currently playing with the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League.
He plays the position of full-forward and apart from his footballing ability, is notable for his appearances on the Channel Nine's The Footy Show on Thursday nights during the season.
Contents |
[edit] Football career
[edit] 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.
After Carlton's first wooden spoon, Fevola was told by 2002 coach Wayne Brittain that he was to be delisted. That same night, Brittain was sacked and replaced with ex-Kangaroos 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.
[edit] 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 their first quarter recorded as one of the worst quarters of football in the modern game — Carlton's 31 disposals was the second-lowest in recorded history, and they allowed eleven fairly easy set shots at goal, with an inaccurate Adelaide scoring only 4-6-30 from them. With three minutes to go and Adelaide ahead by 2 points, Fevola barely held a mark on the boundary line, 55m out from goal. Despite the distance, angle, and limited run-up space, Fev kicked the game-winning goal.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 2006 season
After giving up drinking and with a new outlook on his career, "Fev" has dominated the Carlton forward line, kicking roughly 35% of their 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. 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.
[edit] Criticism
Fevola has been often criticised for his on-field body language, including his outward displays of annoyances when the ball is not correctly delivered to him, and the fact that he takes much longer to get up from a bump or tackle than other players. 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, this season the coach Denis Pagan has labelled him "a perfect role model" after the turnaround of his form.[citation needed]
While representing Australia in the 2006 International Rules series, Fevola was sent home following a pub brawl. It is alleged that Fevola, who was intoxicated, put the barman in a headlock and used threatening language when denied another drink. The Irish barman claims that Fevola also struck him on the face. This has lead to suggestions that Fevola has not made such a big turnaround in behaviour and could easily slip back into his old ways and thus, his hopes of one day captaining the Carlton Football Club have been shattered. Fevola was sent home from the 2006 series after the allegations, although he has since been called to return to answer the allegations to the Garda Síochána. It is understood that he will not be charged but will receive what is titled a 'adult caution.'[1]
[edit] Career bests
During the special New Years' Eve Millennium Match against Collingwood Football Club on December 31, 1999, after only a few senior games during the previous season, Fevola kicked twelve goals. He has never matched this tally in a regular season game. His best in the regular season is eight goals, kicked on several occasions, with 8.5 his best return. He also kicked a bag of eight in the 2005 Wizard Cup grand final against West Coast, earning him the Michael Tuck Medal.
[edit] 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 (although he is touted by some as not the smartest person going around). Memorable appearances on the show include his appearance late in 2005 where he shaved off his trademark dreadlocks 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 7th October 2005 Fevola married Alex Cheatham at St John's Church in Toorak.
Fevola has one biological daughter, Leni Jay, born 21 July 2006, and an adopted daughter Mia, who is Alex's child from a previous relationship.
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 occupational career after football. He has also considered the option of pursuing a punting career in America with the NFL, following in the footsteps of Ben Graham and Darren Bennett, who have both been highly successful in both Australia and the States.
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: Robert Harvey | Michael Tuck Medallist 2005 | Succeeded by: Simon Goodwin |
| Preceded by: Fraser Gehrig | Coleman Medallist 2006 | Succeeded by: - |
