VICTORIA beat the Dream Team by 17 points last night, finding the will and energy to muster a seven-goal final quarter after the visitors had snatched the lead in the third term.

Much had been written about the Dream Team's four big power forwards in the lead-up, but in the end it was Victoria's key forwards who made the difference. Two final quarter goals to Brendan Fevola gave him six for the night and two to skipper Jonathan Brown gave him three.

Fevola, with six goals from eight shots, won the Allen Aylett Medal for best afield.

Conversion was obviously the key, because at the other end of the ground, Lance Franklin had one more scoring shot but his tally was 4.5. Had he kicked with Fevola's precision, the Dream Team may well have prevailed.

In truth, there were several other Victorian players — and a couple of Dream Teamers — who could equally have won. Brent Harvey provided much-needed spark for Victoria early and late in the game, Adam Goodes was all silky power after a slow start and Jimmy Bartel used the ball beautifully.

Dream Team skipper Andrew McLeod gave his side great drive from the half-back line, Kane Cornes got plenty of football and also shut down Chris Judd in the second half, and Peter Burgoyne was prolific as the preferred option out of defence.

Despite "Buddy" being "Buddy", though, the Dream Team could not find a dominant forward. The two Matthews, Richardson and Pavlich, were OK, but Cam Mooney was quiet and none of the four stepped up when it mattered.

Even so, it took a goal from a Brown kick, or rather mis-kick, late in the final term to seal the win. Steve Johnson marked it, a metre inside the boundary line and right next to the behind post. He was always going to run around, a move anticipated by Graham Johncock, but Johnson calmly slipped the ball to his right foot ahead of the despairing lunge and kicked it round his body for Victoria's 21st, and final, goal of the game.

Even with five minutes to go the game had come back into the balance when Franklin calmly slotted a long shot from outside 50 metres deep on the half-forward flank to bring the margin back to six points.

Bartel slipped a handball to Harvey and the Vics were two goals up, then Johnson clinched it.

It was a game that had something for everyone except diehard opponents of any other format than club-versus-club. The final arbiter, the crowd of just under 70,000, roared its approval as the Victorians rose to the challenge in the final term.

Earlier, the Dream Team had control, kicking out to a 22-point lead halfway through the first term before the Vics steadied with goals to Harvey, Fevola and skipper Brown. The Dream Team's 10-point quarter-time lead was quickly reduced through a six-goals-to-three second quarter that saw Victoria into the long break with an eight-point lead.

Leon Davis had a broad smile on his face as he walked to a couple of Dream Team-mates, which indicated perhaps that the game was not being played for sheep stations.

It was no mere exhibition either, as Daniel Kerr, off the field midway through the first quarter after a heavy collision with Johnson, and Craig Bolton, whose head connected with Robert Murphy's shoulder as he tried to slide under the Victorian to trap the ball, would attest.

VICTORIA 3.6 9.8 14.9 21.11 (137)
DREAM TEAM 5.4 8.6 15.8 18.12 (120)

GOALS: Victoria: B Fevola 6, J Brown 3, S Johnson 3, B Harvey 3, R O'Keefe, R Murphy, C Brown, P Chapman, D Bradshaw, N Foley. Dream Team: L Franklin 4, L Davis 3, D Motlop 2, B Burton 2, S Goodwin 2, M Richardson, B Kirk, S Burgoyne, C Mooney, M Stokes.

BEST: Victoria: B Fevola, N Foley, S Pendlebury, A Goodes, B Harvey. Dream Team: P Burgoyne, A McLeod, S Burgoyne, G Johncock.

UMPIRES: M Vozzo, H Kennedy, B Rosebury, S McInerney.

CROWD: 69,294 at the MCG.