Brendan Fevola inducted into Carlton’s Hall of Fame

Days after having a statue unveiled in his honour, Carlton goalkicking great Brendan Fevola has been added to the club’s Hall of Fame revealing his family were in tears when he finally shared the news.

One of the AFL’s last great larrikins and a showman, Fevola booted 575 goals in his 187 games at Carlton after being taken at pick 38 in the 1998 draft.

A fan favourite, he was a two-time Coleman Medal winner as the AFL’s leading goalkicker in 2006 and 2009, an award he won at his club seven consecutive times from 2003 to 2009.

Fevola kicked a memorable 99 goals in 2008, falling agonisingly short of a century as his team failed to make the finals.

Now a breakfast radio host, Fevola on Monday morning he’d kept the secret for months and described it as the biggest moment of his football career which made him emotionalwhen he told his wife and daughters Leni, Lulu, Tobi and Mia

“This is by a big stretch, the greatest thing that’s ever happened in my footy career,” he said on his Fox FM show.

“To be inducted into a club where you walk through the halls of the old Heatley Stand you’ve got all the old players and I was just a 17-year-old kid with a pimply face had no idea from Nazza Wazza (Narre Warren) and then now to be inducted as one of those greats, I don’t even know what I said to you. I think I messaged you about two hours later, once it sunk in because I don’t even know what I said.”

Last week, he was recognised with a statue in suburban Narre Warren, where he grew up, with the Hall of Fame another nod to his stellar on-field career.

“I obviously told Alex and the girls and they all cried because the girls don’t think that I was any good because they were young.

“They think Charlie Curnow is so much better than you and the Carlton footy club is 40 times better than what you ever were. Shut up kids, watch the highlights.

Carlton president Luke Sayers said Fevola was a “a figurehead of the sport”.

“The way he played with such showmanship, skill and excitement was something that drew so many people, not only to the club, but to follow him even as opposition supporters,” he said.

Fevola left the Blues to join the Brisbane Lions in 2010 amid a slew of off-field issues, including gambling problems.

He lasted just the single season at the Lions and finished his career with 623 goals.

He will be included in the Hall of Fame along with former players Jack Carney and Neil Chandler.