Carlton believes a new Brendan Fevola is emerging - one who is reliable, hard-working and does not throw in the towel when things are against him. The talented 25-year-old full-forward has long been known as a player who, at his best, can win a match off his own boot.

But on his bad days he has been a liability, contributing little and giving away free kicks with undisciplined acts, prompting talk the club was looking to trade him at the end of last season. But, in Saturday night's loss to Sydney at Telstra Dome, Fevola showed he might be a changed man.

At half-time, Sydney's Leo Barry was giving Fevola a thrashing, having kept him to just two kicks, neither of which scored, while picking up 13 disposals and 10 marks himself. To make matters worse, Fevola was reported early in the third term for a clumsy collision with Sydney's Brett Kirk.

At that stage he was still goal-less, his team was trailing by four goals, and the Fevola of old would most likely have dropped his head and his workrate. Instead, he continued to chase and harass opponents and provide a target in attack, scoring three second-half goals to help the Blues go close to pulling off a stunning comeback victory.

Carlton coach Denis Pagan said it was an important step in Fevola's career. Fevola kicked bags of five and six goals in the first two rounds, but Pagan said last night's effort to get something out of a bad game was just as important.

The moment most symbolic of Fevola's new resolve was early in the final quarter, when Barry had the ball in defence and was attempting to run around the Blues forward. Fevola chased Barry, Barry handpassed to team-mate Lewis Roberts-Thomson, then Fevola chased him too and managed to get a hand on Roberts-Thomson's attempted handpass. The ball spilled to Carlton's Eddie Betts, Betts handpassed to Fevola, who snapped a goal to cap off his hard work.