It’s 15 years ago this week, but for Brendan Fevola it only seems like yesterday – Round 17, 1999, Carlton versus Collingwood at the MCG - the day the bloke in the No.25 made his senior debut, appropriately enough on the 25^th day of July.

And while that Sunday game is fondly remembered for Simon Beaumont’s ridiculous eight-goal first half haul, it could so easily have been the game that wasn’t for “Fev”, as the man himself was man enough to reveal.

“Mum gave me a little Nissan Bluebird for my 18^th birthday and I was cruising around in that, but it conked out on the way there,” Fevola said this week.

“At the time I was living in ‘Narry’ (Narre Warren) and I used to work out the front of Waverley Park selling pizzas. Anyway I had to get to the ground early so I left home at quarter to 11 to get to the ‘G’ by 12, but as I was driving to the ground the car conked out right in front of Waverley Park. I couldn’t believe it.”

Stranded on the freeway having decamped his faulty Bluebird, ‘Fev’ unbelievably managed to flag down the car ferrying his mother and her then partner to the ground after spotting the approaching vehicle.

“Mum stopped to pick me up, he stayed back to look after the car and I got to the MCG about ten minutes late. ‘Parko’ (the then Carlton coach David Parkin) wasn’t very happy.”

A big occasion player if ever there was one, Carlton v Collingwood on the MCG doubled as Fevola’s perfect stage, and not surprisingly the memory lingers.

“I remember running out for my first game, with about 90,000 people there, which was pretty amazing,” Fevola said. “To run out in the Carlton jumper to the Navy Blues song – that’s something you dream about as a kid, you never forget that moment”.

Unfortunately for Fev, the match didn’t quite go to script.

“I started on the ground and I think big Matty Allan got the tap-out to ‘Murph’ (Justin Murphy) and I got the first handball of the game,” he said.

“But I never got another touch after that and I sat on the bench for most of the game watching ‘Beauy’ turn it on. “He stole my spot, kicking eight in the first half. I reckon he played on Luke Godden, the Collingwood bloke who wore No. 43, and that was the end of him.”

Lance Whitnall congratulates eight-goal hero Simon Beaumont. (Photo: AFL Photos)

Fevola recalled being recalled from the dugout with five minutes of game time remaining with no rotations back then, “and I reckon ‘Sos’ might have flattened me at one stage”.

“But it was a pretty amazing experience, Carlton versus Collingwood at the G,” Fevola added.

For the record, the match doubled as Ron De Iulio’s 100^th game for Carlton and Beaumont’s 50^th. Carlton emerged 57-point victors, with one Andrew McKay earning three Brownlow votes, Beaumont two and N. Buckley (Collingwood) one.

In a recent interview, Beaumont reflected on his grand moment in the sun.

“I reckon I’ve met 60,000 people who were there that day. I can’t believe how it’s stuck in people’s minds,” he said. “It was just one of those days when everything went right. Even my eighth goal, which came from a snap over the shoulder, was a miskick.”

For Fevola, that game would be the first of 187 through 11 seasons for the mighty Blues, during which time he would earn Victorian selection, All-Australian selection (three times), the Coleman Medal (twice) and Carlton’s goalkicking honours on seven occasions.

“Only seems like yesterday,” said the No.25.