No, Brendan Fevola has not been escorted out of Crown Casino again. Instead, he is back training with the pigskin in a bid to resurrect his professional football career.
Despite an extremely successful stint in the Ovens and Murray Football league playing for Yarrawonga where he had a 100 goal season in 2012, Fevola appears set to concentrate on his torpedo in a bid to gain an NFL punting contract for the 2013/14 season.
At 32, age is no barrier at the physically undemanding position where fellow ex-AFL player
Sav Rocca is still punting strongly at the age of 39 for the Washington Redskins.
Rocca currently holds the record as the oldest rookie in NFL history when he was signed at the age of 33.
Fevola stands to make more money in one NFL season than if he plays out his career in country football leagues.
Like successful NFL converts Rocca and Ben Graham, who is coaching Fevola, Brendan possesses the leg strength to succeed in the NFL.
The biggest difficulty to overcome will be consistency in ball drop to continually launch 65 yard (59m) torpedos at will. All while keeping the ball in the air for more than 4.5 seconds.
Throughout his time at Carlton when he was fit, 55 metre drop punts were no problem.
Encouragingly, it was a trait shared by Graham and Rocca.
This will be Fevola’s second attempt to make it in one of the world’s richest leagues.
He made a similar attempt two years ago before opting to resurrect his AFL career via country football.
With the age ceiling of punters in the NFL approximately five years higher than the AFL, his attempt makes sense.
As a rookie punter in the NFL, Fevola could expect approximately $300,000 per season if he is able to win a contract during preseason.
This is the time when teams traditionally bring in a free agent to compete with the previous season’s starter.
At his age and with no college career, Fevola will need to make a name for himself from a series of one year contracts.
A good rookie season could see his rookie salary double the following year if other franchises catch on to him.
Although he has signed on to play the 2013 country football season with Yarrawonga, Fevola would be wise to opt out of his contract, if he is to be in the United States by June to prepare for the NFL preseason which starts in August.
Making such a transition however is far from a certainty in a league which looks down on off-field misbehaviour.
Young players are renowned for spending ridiculous amounts in the most childish of ways.
They often jump from no income in college to six figures in the NFL.
It has become a habit for wide-eyed rookies to spend money on parties, unnecessary team dinners and multiple luxury cars.
Earlier in the week, it was revealed that draft flop quarterback Vince Young took out a seven-figure loan because he wanted to throw himself a birthday party, despite being unemployed at the time.
The loan came with an interest rate of 20%.
Based on Fevola’s past experiences with money, his success in the NFL could lead to some interesting headlines.
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