Victoria beats Dream Team by 17 points
Sat May 10 2008

A six-goal haul to Brendan Fevola proved decisive as Victoria prevailed 21.11 (137) to 18.12 (120) in a see-sawing encounter with the Dream Team at the MCG.

Fevola's starring performance included two goals in the final term as the home side stormed back from two goals down early in the quarter in the AFL Hall of Fame tribute match.

The home side kicked seven of the last nine goals of the match in front of a pro-Victorian crowd of almost 70,000 and Fevola's performance earned him the Allen Aylett Medal as best afield.

Victorian skipper Jonathan Brown, who had been in doubt during the week with a quadricep injury, was also a star in the final period with two goals to spark his quiet night.

The only notable injury for the match was to West Coast gun midfielder Daniel Kerr, who went off in the first quarter with a leg injury and did not return, however he is due to miss the next two games through suspension.

Victoria looked to be in serious trouble at several stages, particularly early in the game, with the Dream Team dominating the opening.

The visitors led 3.2 to one behind after 10 minutes and would have been further in front if not for misses from set shots from star forwards Lance Franklin and Matthew Pavlich.

Franklin's early miss was a sign of things to come, the Hawthorn star finishing the night with 4.5 in a costly display of inaccuracy.

The Dream Team's indigenous contingent were largely responsible for their early dominance, with all eight of the Aboriginal members of their side making strong contributions throughout the night.

Running defenders Andrew McLeod, Peter Burgoyne and Graham Johncock racked up a heap of touches.

Shaun Burgoyne was very good in the midfield and at half-forward, while Mathew Stokes and Leon Davis were also productive at half-forward, Franklin was his side's top goal-scorer and Daniel Motlop also contributed two goals.

But after the Dream Team built a 22-point lead late in the first term, the momentum swung Victoria's way.

Victorian midfielder Brent Harvey racked up some quick touches to help ignite his side and snapped a goal, followed by a strong goal square mark to Fevola to reduce the deficit to 10 points at the first change.

With Brownlow medallists Adam Goodes and Chris Judd lifting in the midfield and Richmond youngster Nathan Foley winning the hard ball in the centre, things continued Victoria's way through the second term.

Harvey, Brown and Fevola all goaled inside the opening seven minutes to send their side into the lead and by half-time they were eight points up.

That was extended to 20 points when Foley and Robert Murphy quickly added the opening two goals of the second half.

But the Dream Team's running game enabled them to steadily wear away at the lead for the rest of the quarter, with McLeod and the Burgoyne brothers particularly damaging during this period.

When Sydney co-captain Brett Kirk snapped truly close to three-quarter time it sent the Dream Team into the last term with a five-point lead.

Shaun Burgoyne extended it to a two-goal margin with a quality running goal early in the last quarter.

But from there the game was dominated by Victoria, who kicked the next four goals, two of them to Fevola, to surge to a 10-point lead they and never relinquished it.

Fevola's sixth goal was possibly the best as he marked strongly between Dream Team defenders Ryan Griffen and Ben Rutten, before kicking truly.

Franklin had the chance to help his side back into the match, but missed with several shots in the final term.