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By finishing on 99, Bendan Fevola has become football's Don Bradman and a part of football folklore forever. Send us your tribute to 'our Don Bradman'.
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BRENDAN Fevola has fallen just one goal short of the magical century mark in Carlton's 78-point loss to Hawthorn at Telstra Dome on Saturday night.
The big spearhead was scoreless in the first half, but booted four goals in the third quarter and three in the last to be left stranded on 99 on a night when Lance Franklin took out the Coleman Medal, with his four-goal bag taking him to 102 for the regular season.
Team rules went out the window in the last quarter as players looked for Fev regardless of where he was. The full-forward had two strong claims for free kicks denied in the dying minutes, and remained on seven goals when the final siren sounded with the score 24.15 (159) to 12.9 (81).
Carlton trailed at every break on the night and struggled to combat the Hawks' midfield brigade, but Marc Murphy impressed with 36 touches as did Chris Judd (31) and Bryce Gibbs (32).
Jordan Lewis was important for Hawthorn with 35 possessions as were Luke Hodge (32) and Sam Mitchell (28).
The Blues were well in the contest early with goals to Cameron Cloke and Judd, but with Fevola struggling to exert an influence, the Hawks were able to establish a lead.
Franklin booted his first in the 22nd minute, and his big moment came just three minutes later, with both sets of players taking shelter inside a security cordon in the centre square as thousands of fans streamed onto the ground.
Play was interrupted for just over eight minutes as the crowd slowly dispersed, but interruption didn't spoil the Hawks' momentum as Cyril Rioli bagged his second to send his side into the first break 25 points up.
The Blues quickly went further behind in the second, with the margin out to 38 points before Jordan Russell converted from long range. Carlton was struggling to generate enough inside 50s, but Hawthorn had no such issues as the lead stretched to 44 points.
Gibbs stroked home a nice goal from outside 50 late in the term, but at half time it was a 38-point ball game.
Fevola worked into the game well after the restart, but his four goals were the only scores to come off a Carlton player's boot in the third quarter. His first of the night reduced the margin to 33 points, but the Hawks booted six majors to extend their lead to 55 points at three-quarter time.
Hawthorn accelerated away in the last quarter with eight goals, but all the interest centred on Fevola.
They were strange scenes considering the Blues were well out of the contest, with the Carlton fans roaring loudly every time the ball went anywhere near Fevola, but sadly for them, and the big spearhead, it wasn't to be.
Carlton 2.3 4.5 8.6 12.9 (81)
Hawthorn 6.4 10.7 16.13 24.15 (159)
GOALS
Carlton: Fevola 7, Gibbs 2, Cloke, Judd, Russell,
Hawthorn: Roughead 5, Franklin 4, Williams 3, Brown 3, Osborne 3, Rioli, Lewis, Hodge, Campbell, Sewell, Bateman
BEST
Carlton: Judd, Murphy, Gibbs, Fevola, Thornton, Walker, Bentick
Hawthorn: Hodge, Mitchell, Lewis, Sewell, Birchall, Brown, Roughead
INJURIES
Carlton: Scotland (hip), Carrazzo (knee) replaced in selected side by Austin, Pfeiffer
Hawthorn: Stokes (gastro) replaced in selected side by Ellis, Williams (hip)
REPORTS
Carlton: N Stevens (by emergency umpire K Nicholls for wrestling C Bateman)
Hawthorn: C Bateman (by emergency umpire K Nicholls for wrestling N Stevens)
Umpires: Kennedy, Stevic, McLaren
Official crowd: 49,057 at Telstra Dome
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
