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Key Facts

Full name
Brendan Fevola

Known as
Brendan Fevola

Born
20 January 1981 (age 43)

Age at first & last AFL game
First game: 18y 186d
Last game: 29y 192d

Height and weight
Height: 191 cm
Weight: 100 kg

Senior clubs
Carlton; Brisbane; Casey

Jumper numbers
Carlton: 25
Brisbane: 5

Recruited from
Carlton (2010)

Brendan Fevola

ClubLeagueCareer spanGamesGoalsAvgWin %AKIAHBAMKBV
CarltonAFL1999-20091875753.0737%8.902.035.1947
BrisbaneAFL201017482.8229%7.351.473.410
CaseyVFL201117694.06
YarrawongaOMFNL2012-2015653575.49
AFL1999-20102046233.0536%8.771.995.0447
VFL201117694.06
OMFNL2012-2015653575.49
Total1999-201528610493.67

AFL: 10,999th player to appear, 616th most games played, 33rd most goals kickedCarlton: 1,034th player to appear, 48th most games played, 3rd most goals kickedBrisbane: 236th player to appear, 207th most games played, 64th most goals kicked

Brendan Fevola played 204 games for Carlton and Brisbane between 1999 and 2010.

Fevola was regarded as one of the most effective full-forwards in the AFL, having won the Coleman Medal for league leading goalkicker in 2006 and 2009 (kicking 84 and 86 goals respectively) as well as All-Australian selection as a forward three times since 2006. His representative honours include playing for Victoria where he was awarded the Allen Aylett Medal for being the state team's best player and leading goalkicker. During his career at Carlton, he was the club's leading goalkicker and key forward from 2003 until 2009. However, throughout his career he has been a controversial figure off the field, which ultimately led to his parting company with both of his AFL clubs.

Brendan Fevola was born to parents Angelo Fevola (an Italian Australian who represented Victoria in lacrosse) and Karen Ralph in 1981. His parents split when he was eight years old. For a short time he attended a Catholic school.

Fevola began playing football with the Beaconsfield Junior Football Club in the Dandenong & District Junior Football League before playing senior football in the Victorian Country Football League. His ability to kick goals for the Dandenong Stingrays earned him selection in the TAC Cup Team of the Year in 1998 and attracted the eye of recruiters and was one of three talented AFL prospects featured in the television documentary "The Draft".

Fevola was recruited to Carlton Football Club with selection No. 38 overall in the 1998 AFL Draft. Early in his career he showed signs of being a brilliant kick of the ball and a prospective key position player at full forward. During a pre-season game on 31 December 1999 against Collingwood (promoted as the "Millennium Match"), he kicked 12 goals.

The promising talent was given the No. 25 guernsey made famous by Carlton legend Alex Jesaulenko. However Fevola struggled to maintain form over the next few years, playing in 39 games and kicking 66 goals between 2000 and 2002, with noticeably poor body language on-field as well as causing bad publicity through incidents off-field. Carlton coach Wayne Brittain had intended to trade or delist Fevola at the end of the 2002 season; however, after Carlton's poor season (in which it won the wooden spoon) Brittain was himself sacked, and incoming coach Denis Pagan reversed Brittain's decision.

Pagan's arrival had an immediate impact on Fevola's discipline and form. In Round 5, 2003, Fevola kicked eight goals against the Kangaroos, helping win the game for Carlton and launching himself into the eyes of AFL viewers. Fevola's unkempt dreadlocks and extroverted personality in the media earned him the nickname "The Shag" by fans.

Fevola's early goalkicking inconsistency saw him experiment with unorthodox styles of handling the ball in approach to taking set shots. In 2004, Fevola developed a ritualistic set-shot routine of taking three quick steps to shoot on goal, and this resulted in a significant increase in goalkicking accuracy, particularly from long distance. The duration of his ritual, at times taking longer than a minute, became a point of contention, and was partially responsible for the introduction of a new rule in 2006 (commonly referred to as "the Lloyd Rule"), limiting the duration permitted to take a set shot to 30 seconds, before play-on would be called. Fevola's ritual was duly shortened to accommodate the new rule.

In 2006, Fevola capped off a stunning year and his best to that point by kicking 84 goals and winning the Coleman Medal and All-Australian selection. He scored 59 goals in 2007, then followed this up in 2008 with his career best of 99 goals for the season, seeing him finish second behind Lance Franklin in the race for the Coleman Medal. He was selected for Victoria in the once-off AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match in 2008, kicking six goals and winning the Allen Aylett Medal as best on ground.

In 2009, Fevola won his second Coleman Medal, kicking 86 goals for the season, eight goals clear of the runner up Jonathan Brown. He is the only Carlton player ever to win the League goal-kicking twice, and it was his seventh consecutive season as the club's leading goalkicker; only Stephen Kernahan (11) had won the award more times consecutively.

Carlton announced on 30 September 2009 that it would seek a trade for Fevola during the 2009 trade week due to his off-field behaviour, most specifically due to antics at the 2009 Brownlow Medal Count. On 9 October, he was officially traded to the Brisbane Lions, along with a second round draft pick (#27 overall) in exchange for Brisbane's Lachlan Henderson and a first round draft pick (#12 overall). Additionally, Carlton agreed to pay $100,000 of Fevola's salary for each of the two years remaining on his existing contract. Fevola left Carlton as a life member of the club, after playing 187 senior games for 575 goals – the third most goals by any player in Carlton Football Club history. Despite the circumstances of his departure, Carlton has stated that Fevola's life membership was not affected, and that he remained welcome at the club.

At Brisbane, Fevola was given the Number 5 guernsey. He made his debut in Brisbane colours in the NAB Cup loss to the Western Bulldogs on 14 February 2010. The following Friday afternoon, a trial match against his old club Carlton at Visy Park attracted 10,000 fans. He made his senior debut for the Lions in the first round of the 2010 season at the Gabba against the West Coast Eagles. In 2010, his only season at the Brisbane Lions, Fevola played 17 games for 48 goals. He was dogged by further off-field controversy over the 2010/11 offseason, and was officially sacked by the club on

On 6 April 2011, Fevola signed to play with the Casey Scorpions in the Victorian Football League in 2011. He kicked 63 goals during the home and away season, with 43 of those coming in the final six games of the season, to finish second behind Port Melbourne's Patrick Rose (67 goals) in the league goalkicking, and he kicked a further six goals in finals. His contract with the Scorpions was not renewed for 2012; he played six games for Waratah in the 2011/12 NTFL season, kicking 49 goals, and has signed to play with Yarrawonga in the Ovens & Murray Football League in 2012.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brendan_Fevola

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.