Deer Park has landed arguably the biggest recruiting coup in suburban football, with Brendan Fevola to join the club.
The former Carlton star and two-time Coleman Medal winner told Deer Park president Mark McGoldrick on Sunday that he would sign with the Western Region Football League club for next season.
Fevola will be 35 when the 2016 season starts. Since finishing his AFL career, he has played for Yarrawonga in the Ovens and Murray Football League.
He announced earlier in the year that this season would be his last with the Pigeons and he was looking to return to Melbourne.
“We’re over the moon to have Brendan on board,” McGoldrick said.
“He has been speaking to a couple of clubs and we spoke to him three or four weeks ago. He said he would let me know once his season was complete.
“Yarrawonga [are out of the finals] and he called me to say he was committed to Deer Park.”
Fevola has signed on to play all home games with the Lions prior to June 30, giving him the option to make one-off appearances at other clubs when Deer Park plays away matches.
From July he will be an exclusive Deer Park player.
“That’s the same deal we had with Brent Guerra,” McGoldrick said.
“Fev has told us that he’s not as keen as he once was to travel all around the place to play. We definitely have him for all games after the clearance period.”
The signing adds further weight to Deer Park’s push for a fourth straight WRFL premiership. The Lions completed the three-peat with a 136-point win over Werribee Districts earlier this month.
McGoldrick said the signing of Fevola would be a great thing for the league and junior footballers in the area.
“Since getting out of second division, we have aimed to have a marquee player every year and Brendan fits that bill,” he said.
“We’re in an area that’s not very well endowed with young kids. Hopefully, this will spark a bit of interest.
“And, hopefully, every Saturday afternoon down at Deer Park we’ll have kids going from end to end watching Fev kick goals.”
