Brendan Fevola, Guy Sebastian spark absurd 229-point turnaround
AFL great Brendan Fevola dug deep into his bag of tricks after pulling on the boots for one of the most struggling clubs in Victoria.
Fevola teamed up with Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian to make a one-off appearance for VAFA Division 5 Thirds team the Masala Dandenong Football Club.
The cellar-dwellers were coming off a 229-point thumping the week prior, but with the 623-goal kicking star in their line-up it was a different story.
Fevola was at his best in front of the big sticks as he kicked six goals to help guide Masal to the 7.13 (55) to 8.5 (53) victory over South Melbourne.
The 44-year-old was simply unstoppable anytime the ball entered the forward 50 arc as he plucked several one-handed marks.
The former Carlton and Brisbane star was rightfully given a hero's reception by the bustling crowd as he walked off the field.
'We hoped to do better than last week — score more than seven points and not to lose by as much as 229 points,' he said.
Sebastian lined up alongside Fevola to kick start the contest before drifting into the midfield where he showed off his silky skills.
After a halftime performance for the monster crowd, Sebastian's day ended on a sour note when he limped from the field in the fourth quarter.
The 43-year-old received treatment before having his leg wrapped up and leaving the ground on crutches.
The pair's participation came as part of a promotion run by Fox FM's Fifi, Fev and Nick breakfast show that offers his services to battling local clubs.
While Masala and fans were overjoyed that Fevola would be pulling on the boots for the club, the news did not go down well with several VAFA clubs, who questioned his eligibility as the amateur competition strictly prohibits any payments to players, and an investigation by VAFA was launched.
The investigation ultimately found that Fevola and Sebastian will not be paid and therefore their appearance could go ahead, with both stars reportedly willing to sign a legal document confirming the league's findings.
A Fox FM producer said Fevola and Sebastian's involvement was purely 'a promotional exercise'.
With two stars pulling on the boots, fans from far and wide flocked through the gates to catch a glimpse of them in action.
A crowd of more than 2500 watched as the game unfolded with the club struggling to keep up with the demand.
'I have never seen anything like it,' club president William Bolch said to the Herald Sun.
'We ran out of bacon and eggs, we ran out of milk, we had to make multiple trips down to the shops to restock the canteen.
'I think today has given the club a massive spike'
Unfortunately there was no post-game celebrations for Fevola who quickly hit the road to play his regular game with the East Sunbury Football Club.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
If Mal wants success in the west he must follow Sheedy's blueprint
He has not coached an NRL team since the Raiders in 2001 and was not successful. His coaching success came with the Maroons' golden run in State of Origin, and, to a lesser extent, the Kangaroos. As coach of Australia, he suffered some significant losses to Tonga and New Zealand over the years, but he did a wonderful job restoring the Kangaroos' 'brand', and driving the return of the Kangaroo Tour to England, which will take place later this year, now with a different task master. His age should matter little, as Sheedy proved. Throw in Wayne Bennett (75) and Craig Bellamy (65) and we have enough evidence the job can be done by those of pension age. The question remains though about his lack of NRL head coach time. Representative coaching and club coaching are two vastly different beasts, as Michael Maguire can attest to. The GWS podcast explores how Sheedy went about his role. Yes, he was head coach, but he was surrounded by assistants who did most of the heavy lifting. Key was Mark Williams, the Port Adelaide premiership-winning coach, who acted as much more than assistant. Sheedy spent most of his time whipping up a frenzy about the new team in a hostile environment. Meninga can handle himself in the media. But Sheedy is a master. He got stuck into the Swans, rugby league, rugby union, even AFL head office which appointed him. He was in search of buzz and noise. One-liners made front and back page news. Any publicity was good publicity. He took no prisoners but he was also humorous, and the way he went about it was likeable. With unending energy, he spent significant time nurturing sponsors and wooing business heavyweights. Before taking the role, Sheedy and his wife Stephanie were considering a six or 12-month sabbatical in the south of France or Italy as they headed toward retirement, free from the day-to-day rigours of a high-profile role at a massive club in the AFL. A decompress. When he decided to take the job, he and Stephanie threw away their romantic idea of a European sojourn and were in, boots and all. They moved to Sydney immediately, a full two years ahead of the team's entry into the competition. 'Sheedy had no interest in taking the job to boost his retirement savings. He wanted to be the ultimate disruptor.' Rather than strolling through the vineyards of France or Tuscany, the pair woke each morning and drove to different parts of Western Sydney, and did this for months. From Richmond in the north, west to the foot of the Blue Mountains and down to Campbelltown in the south west. He was able to rattle off the suburbs like the alphabet. They set about finding out what made the area tick, what sort of people lived there, what businesses were there. What were their dreams and aspirations? What would make them want to support a new team in a code foreign to most of them? Sheedy had no interest in taking the job merely to boost his retirement savings. He wanted to be the ultimate disruptor and set the club up for the future. Meninga, who has a young family with three kids aged nine to eleven with second wife Amanda, has to do the same. Boots and all. There has been some talk he will stay in Canberra initially as the club begins recruiting in earnest, but that won't cut it. The Bears have a shorter lead time than GWS did, and AFL was better established as a brand in Sydney thanks to the Swans, than the NRL is in Perth where the Bears will be the ultimate outsiders. Loading Sheedy was also known better in Sydney than Meninga is in Perth. He commanded an immediate presence. Yes, finding players is a major part of the job. Finding fans and corporate support is bigger. When the Bears run on, there have to be big crowds in attendance week-in, week-out, otherwise the NRL's 18th team will sink like a stone. Luckily he has a blueprint to work from. The AFL and Sheedy wrote it for him.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
If Mal wants success in the west he must follow Sheedy's blueprint
He has not coached an NRL team since the Raiders in 2001 and was not successful. His coaching success came with the Maroons' golden run in State of Origin, and, to a lesser extent, the Kangaroos. As coach of Australia, he suffered some significant losses to Tonga and New Zealand over the years, but he did a wonderful job restoring the Kangaroos' 'brand', and driving the return of the Kangaroo Tour to England, which will take place later this year, now with a different task master. His age should matter little, as Sheedy proved. Throw in Wayne Bennett (75) and Craig Bellamy (65) and we have enough evidence the job can be done by those of pension age. The question remains though about his lack of NRL head coach time. Representative coaching and club coaching are two vastly different beasts, as Michael Maguire can attest to. The GWS podcast explores how Sheedy went about his role. Yes, he was head coach, but he was surrounded by assistants who did most of the heavy lifting. Key was Mark Williams, the Port Adelaide premiership-winning coach, who acted as much more than assistant. Sheedy spent most of his time whipping up a frenzy about the new team in a hostile environment. Meninga can handle himself in the media. But Sheedy is a master. He got stuck into the Swans, rugby league, rugby union, even AFL head office which appointed him. He was in search of buzz and noise. One-liners made front and back page news. Any publicity was good publicity. He took no prisoners but he was also humorous, and the way he went about it was likeable. With unending energy, he spent significant time nurturing sponsors and wooing business heavyweights. Before taking the role, Sheedy and his wife Stephanie were considering a six or 12-month sabbatical in the south of France or Italy as they headed toward retirement, free from the day-to-day rigours of a high-profile role at a massive club in the AFL. A decompress. When he decided to take the job, he and Stephanie threw away their romantic idea of a European sojourn and were in, boots and all. They moved to Sydney immediately, a full two years ahead of the team's entry into the competition. 'Sheedy had no interest in taking the job to boost his retirement savings. He wanted to be the ultimate disruptor.' Rather than strolling through the vineyards of France or Tuscany, the pair woke each morning and drove to different parts of Western Sydney, and did this for months. From Richmond in the north, west to the foot of the Blue Mountains and down to Campbelltown in the south west. He was able to rattle off the suburbs like the alphabet. They set about finding out what made the area tick, what sort of people lived there, what businesses were there. What were their dreams and aspirations? What would make them want to support a new team in a code foreign to most of them? Sheedy had no interest in taking the job merely to boost his retirement savings. He wanted to be the ultimate disruptor and set the club up for the future. Meninga, who has a young family with three kids aged nine to eleven with second wife Amanda, has to do the same. Boots and all. There has been some talk he will stay in Canberra initially as the club begins recruiting in earnest, but that won't cut it. The Bears have a shorter lead time than GWS did, and AFL was better established as a brand in Sydney thanks to the Swans, than the NRL is in Perth where the Bears will be the ultimate outsiders. Loading Sheedy was also known better in Sydney than Meninga is in Perth. He commanded an immediate presence. Yes, finding players is a major part of the job. Finding fans and corporate support is bigger. When the Bears run on, there have to be big crowds in attendance week-in, week-out, otherwise the NRL's 18th team will sink like a stone. Luckily he has a blueprint to work from. The AFL and Sheedy wrote it for him.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Aussie boxer Sam Goodman lands shock featherweight world title fight against Nick Ball
Sam Goodman has landed a shock world title fight, with the Aussie boxer set to move up to featherweight to challenge WBA champion Nick Ball in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on August 16. The fight will be the co-main event to English heavyweight sensation Moses Itauma's step-up fight against veteran Dillian Whyte. Goodman had been chasing super-bantamweight kingpin Naoya Inoue for two years, but jumped at the opportunity to face Ball instead in a move that will disrupt Inoue's own fight plans. Nicknamed 'The Monster', Inoue is lined up to defend his super-bantamweight crown against Murodjon Akhmadaliev in September in Japan. He was expected to then make a move to featherweight to challenge Ball later in the year. Goodman's team instead opted to move up and fight Ball first, and will look at facing Inoue at featherweight instead. 'The Monster won't fight us, so we will take his December opponent out and then he has to fight us,' Goodman's manager, Peter Mitrevski told Code Sports. 'We aren't afraid of monsters. 'He doesn't want to fight us, so we'll move up to featherweight and take on the featherweight monster.' Ball and Goodman have indirect history too. The Englishman's main training partner, Brad Strand, was the man who cut Goodman in sparring just 10 days out from his first scheduled bout with Inoue last December. The unbeaten Aussie twice missed out on a whopping seven-figure payday to fight Inoue, after the cut opened up again in sparring a month later. The double setbacks left Goodman so broke that he admitted to having to steal dog food from Coles before his comeback win over Cesar Vaca last month. The 22-0-1 Ball is stocky and explosive, and won the WBA title in June last year. He has defended it twice, most recently against Irish-Aussie veteran TJ Doheny, who Goodman beat by decision in 2023. Ball's win over Doheny nearly descended into chaos when the Englishman kicked the challenger in the back of the legs in the final seconds of a testy first round in Liverpool. Goodman's surprise featherweight world title fight was made official this weekend, and caps off a remarkable run for Aussie boxers on the world stage, with Tim Tszyu, Justis Huni, Jai Opetaia and George Kambosos all in world title fights over the next 10 weeks.
