Former North Melbourne teammates Wayne Carey and Anthony Stevens reportedly had to be “separated” at a premiership reunion on the weekend.
More than 20 years after Carey’s cheating scandal with Stevens’ then-wife forced him out of the Kangaroos, SEN reports the pair clashed at a gathering of former North players on Saturday night.
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According to SEN’s Sam Edmund, there was an “ugly altercation” between Carey and Stevens at North Melbourne’s 1996 premiership gathering at the Railway Hotel in Yarraville.
“It’s a pretty sad sequel,” Edmund said on SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
Witnesses said, Dwayne, that Carey went at Stevens, accusing him of talking behind his back, telling people not to bother trying to catch up with him but then being fine in-person.
“Witnesses said Carey went at Stevens, accusing him of talking behind his back and telling people he couldn’t be contacted and to not bother trying to catch up with him, but then being fine in-person.”
The Herald Sun reports the “verbal stoush” centered around Stevens’ mental health, with Carey discussing how he dealt with his own issues following the affair scandal.
Edmund said witnesses had told him the pair were “separated”, with fellow ex-Kangaroos left “stunned” by the verbal attack.
The Herald Sun reported there was no potential of violence and that the pair “moved on and shared a beer together” afterwards.
Stevens then did not take part in the club’s 1996 reunion parade at Marvel Stadium on Sunday — where 17 players took part in a motorcade before North Melbourne’s clash with Sydney — as he was left “shattered by the heated exchange”.
The Kangaroos told the Herald Sun Stevens, who is a club director, didn’t attend Sunday’s parade because he was ill.
While Stevens was absent, Carey was in a car with his young son, along with former teammate Wayne Schwass and premiership coach Denis Pagan.
The gathering was to celebrate the club’s 25-year anniversary, as Covid restrictions in 2021 forced the meeting to pushed back to last weekend.
Carey was caught cheating with Stevens’ former wife Kelli in 2002. He left the club in disgrace and played out the rest of his career at the Adelaide Crows.
The scandal returned to the public eye earlier this year when Carey spoke about it on SAS Australia on Channel 7.
The 51-year-old called the affair “biggest regret of his adult life.”
“One of the biggest stories was when I slept with a teammate’s wife,” he said.
“It’s haunted me for over 20 years. I was in self destruction mode and I guess my life started to unravel.”
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