Brendan Fevola has made his return to league football last weekend, after taking to the field with the Casey Scorpions for the first time this year in the VFL following months of speculation on his career and mental and physical well-being.
Fevola has spent months in rehabilitation regarding his severe depression, gambling and drinking problems, along with being sacked by his former AFL club, the Brisbane Lions.
It may have seemed like difficult circumstances to overcome, but that did not overshadow the positive signs he displayed at Casey Fields last Saturday.
“I’m happy, we had a good win, it’s been a long way back, as I obviously got out of rehab earlier in the year,” Fevola told the ABC post-match.
“I’ve got that sorted out now, and I’m starting to get a bit of match fitness,” he said.
Despite not dominating the game, finishing with eight disposals, one goal and four behinds, his improvement throughout showed glimpses as to why he has been such a good footballer in recent seasons.
Casey coach, Brad Gotch, highlighted many promising signs of Fevola’s performance and that he remains on the right track.
“From the start of the game to the end of the game he started to make some big improvements,” he said.
“Holding marks, leading well, that is a gauge for me that he is improving.”
“We saw a little bit of it in that last quarter, with some fast leads, and that is just confidence and him feeling good about his game.”
“He got better as the game wore on.”
“Even just to see him press quickly and look to chase and look to tackle, they’re the things I get excited about.”
Gotch stressed that persistence is the key, as a number of questions will be raised in the coming weeks about Casey’s tall forward line, and how Fevola will operate with the development of Melbourne Football Club youngsters Matthew Bate and Michael Newton.
“We’ll persevere to make that work, we’ll look at how we can refine that. They’re only going to get better playing together, but it’s a matter of working for each other. There has to be blocks in there, dummy leading, decoy leading and creating space for each other,” he said.
“To Fev’s credit in the first half, I thought he dummy led a lot, he led into the vision of the kicker, which forced the opposition to look at him rather than some of the other forwards.”
Casey will face the Bullants’ next week away in a tough contest at the Preston City Oval, but it seems all Fevola is worried about is just getting the opportunity to do what he loves, playing footy, week in, week out.
“What ever happens, happens at the end of the year, I just enjoy playing down here,” Fevola said.
After the match, Fevola was all smiles, spending time signing autographs and taking pictures with fans, the crowd cheering on Casey’s 76-point win, making Fevola’s rendition of the theme song for the first time all the more fitting.
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