Just hours after the biggest deal of the trade week was completed, Fevola fronted the Queensland media with Lions coach Michael Voss at Gold Coast theme park Wet 'n' Wild on Friday afternoon, saying his misdemeanours were a thing of the past.
The Coleman Medallist was traded north with pick 27 in the national draft for Lachlan Henderson and pick number 12.
In an open and honest press conference, Fevola shied away from no questions, including fresh allegations he sexually assaulted a female journalist on Brownlow Medal night.
He apologised for his Brownlow night actions, said he had not touched alcohol since and would not take on any media roles in Brisbane.
Fevola also said he had no hard feelings towards Carlton, saying “their hands were tied” and he understood their decision to move him on.
“Hopefully I have left the wild times behind now,” he said.
“I’m 28 now and I’ve got to grow up a little bit and hopefully this change brings that.”
Not only did he sign with the Lions on Friday, but the big full-forward walked straight into the fresh sexual assault allegations.
While saying he had already “apologised to everyone that needed to be apologised to”, Fevola admitted he was embarrassed watching vision of himself from that night.
“I think on Brownlow night as I said in my statement when the Blues were putting me up for trade, I pretty much made a dick of myself that night,” he said.
“Obviously I had too much to drink and I don’t think I missed too many people that night. I’ve apologised to the AFL, to the club, to my supporters, to the players, to other media that were there and I want to express my deep sorriness again.
“It was absolutely disgusting, my behaviour. I’ve been in trouble a bit over the time and you never really see what’s happened, and to watch those tapes of the Footy Show you just look at it and think ‘I don’t want to be that person’ and you don’t want to be back there again and it was quite embarrassing. “
Despite Carlton initiating the trade talk and wanting to move Fevola on, the man that has kicked 575 goals from 187 games for the Blues holds no grudges to his former club.
He said he had received text messages from some players who were sad to see him go.
“The Carlton footy club has given me a great life. I wanted to be a one-club player and play 200 games but through my own fault that’s not going to happen,” he said.
“The footy club have stood by me through everything and I owe them a lot and I’m sad I’m leaving Carlton footy club, especially for the supporters who’ve stood by me over the last 10 years, and it’s pretty emotional.
“The Carlton footy club has been fed up with everything and you don’t blame them, they’ve had their hands tied and I think we’re both pretty sad to see each other go but we come to the Brisbane Lions and it’s a fresh start.”
Fevola said the prospect of teaming with Jonathan Brown and Daniel Bradshaw in the Lions forward line was exciting and he expected his new team to push for a premiership next year.
“A realistic goal is we want to finish in the top four,” he said.
“You give yourself a massive opportunity to win the grand final if you’re in the top four and I want to play football to win premierships.
“(The Lions) have traded as if they want to win a flag and I want to win a premiership. I didn’t want to go to a team that wasn’t going to make the eight, I wanted to go to a team that could have a fair crack at winning a premiership and Brisbane is that team and coming here is gong to be great and I’m really looking forward to starting.”
Fevola said his first job was to be humble and earn the respect of the coaching staff and teammates.
“My last four or five years have been pretty good in footy terms and if I can improve that and not be a d-ckhead outside the footy field I think everyone will be happy.”
