The former Roos captain says sorry while his wife pleads for privacy

Hello fans:

As the Carey extra-marital affair enters its second week, Melburnians and many footy fans around Australia are still digesting what exactly happened that had contributed to Wayne Carey retiring from North Melbourne on Wednesday night, and its repercussions.
In the latest developments:
*Carey returned to his hometown of Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales on Thursday, followed by his wife Sally on Friday.
*Sally released a statement on Friday to the media, pleading for privacy.
*Carey has been assigned a personal minder 24/7 by his manager Ricky Nixon to give him emotional support.
*Carey – head bowed and appearing emotionally fragile – appeared for the first time in public on Saturday. At the same day, talks began between Carey and Sally’s family, the McMahons.
*Carey was believed to have been given the green light by the Roos to play for North Wagga, coached by his brother Dick. Carey initially floated the possibility of playing for North Wagga for the rest of 2002 before Nixon told him this was not feasible under AFL rules.
*Carey was believed to be paid about two-thirds of his $A1 million-plus contract for 2002.
*A woman allegedly sexually assaulted by Carey more than six years ago has reportedly said she was not surprised by his very public fall from grace.
*Carey’s No.18 jumper becomes an unwanted item and could be retired if his resignation holds firm and he never returns to Arden St.
*The Roos’ match committee will meet this week to appoint the club’s new captain with Stevens and Glenn Archer joint favourites.
*A group of Kangaroos senior players have called a team-bonding session on Wednesday and Thursday to ensure the legendary spirit of the team stays alive even after Carey’s departure.
*The Roos sold 250 memberships last Thursday, the day after Carey’s resignation, in its busiest sale day for almost three weeks. The membership tally now hovers near 11,000. Membership enquiries also increased five times on Thursday alone.
*Nixon has laughed off suggestions Carey was considering signing up with the Brisbane Lions.
*Roos chairman Allen Aylett said he had not yet addressed the situation of a fitting send-off for the dual premiership captain.
*AFL chief executive Wayne Jackson paid tribute to Carey, but has ruled a special mid-year draft for the other 15 clubs to draft him. This week, he said the scandal did not tarnish the game’s image.
*The Roos’ No.1 fan, Federal Opposition Leader Simon Crean, said the Carey affair was a tragedy and has offered himself as a mediator.
*Sporting giant Nike said it was reviewing its lucrative sponsorship contract with Carey while the Roos’ major sponsors have expressed their continual support.
*The Roos’ premiership odds plummeted after Carey’s departure.
*The AFL’s official website, afl.com.au., was shut down last Thursday for several hours because of the sudden huge amount of traffic to the site and flood of comments in the site’s chatroom relating to the Carey affair (or scandal as someone calls it). It is believed to be the site’s first shutdown since it started way back in 1995.

By this time you have read from Lisa's report what happened up to the point where Carey resigned so I won't repeat it here. The following is what happened afterwards.

Carey’s wife pleads for privacy as both parties return to Wagga Wagga
A distressed Sally Carey returned to her family home to Wagga Wagga on Friday to discuss the future of her marriage to her husband, but it is not known if she will forgive him.
“This is an incredibly personal and upsetting set of circumstances,” Sally said in a statement, read to the media by Carey’s manager Ricky Nixon. “All I want to say is this has been an extremely difficult and stressful time. I have come back to Wagga for the support of family and friends.
“Wayne and I have been together for 10 years. When I have time to absorb everything I will sit down with my husband and discuss the future of our marriage. All I ask is that we now be given some privacy and peace to be able to do this.”
Sally, 27, arrived in Wagga at 5pm on Friday after checking out of a Melbourne hospital where she had been under sedation. Accompanied by her parents Trisha and Terry, she immediately went into a meeting with Nixon, who had flown from Melbourne to be with his troubled client. Carey has met Trisha before leaving Melbourne for Wagga Wagga the day before his wife’s return.
Nixon then read a short statement prepared by Sally, before leaving to join Carey, who was believed to have slipped into a deep depression earlier in the day.
Carey, who had fled to Wagga Wagga on Thursday, is being emotionally supported by his family, including his brother, Dick. He will remain with his family in Wagga Wagga indefinitely and will work on resolving his personal problems before deciding if he will resume his football career elsewhere in 2003.
Dick Carey revealed he was speaking for both Carey and Sally’s family, the McMahons, when he asked for the couple to be given some space to work through their problems. His statement was the first public acknowledgement that both families have begun talking.
Carey’s manager Ricky Nixon confirmed on Thursday his client was with his brothers in his old
home town and said Carey was “shattered” at the fallout of his affair with Kellie Stevens.
Sally’s father Terry, who was yet to talk to Carey, said the future of the marriage would be decided by Sally and Carey. He had planned to drive to Melbourne on Saturday to pick up his daughter, but aborted the plan when Trisha drove Sally home.
Nixon said Carey would remain in Wagga Wagga for as long as it took to deal with his troubles.
Earlier in Melbourne, Nixon said his client, who is probably the greatest player in the history of the game, has been more than honest in saying he has made the greatest mistake of his life and has hurt everyone closest to him, and will have to live with his actions for the rest of his life.
Nixon said it was entirely Carey’s decision to quit the club and reports that he was voted out by his team-mates are untrue. He said it was difficult position for everyone and Carey had no intention of travelling to the United States contrary to some reports.
Nixon said he was “totally drained” and a shattered man because of what he had done to his wife, to his teammates, to his beloved club and to himself. He said the plan now was to resolve all the personal issues to the best they can, with Carey supported by both his own family and Sally’s family.
Nixon said Carey had agreed that it was best not to consider his playing future until his personal life was properly dealt with. He said Carey was in such an emotional state that he had spoken both of resuming his AFL career and retiring in the same breath.
Nixon also revealed that fallen Geelong hero Gary Ablett had called him shortly after Carey’s public resignation on Wednesday night to pass on his best wishes to Carey and his wife Sally.
Wagga Wagga mayor Kevin Wales said the town now felt embarrassed about its favourite son getting into so much trouble.
*Meanwhile, Anthony and Kellie Stevens are also working towards trying to achieve reconciliation. They left Melbourne separately to be with their families in rural northern Victoria.
Stevens, whose family lives in a farm near Shepparton, was believed to have visited his wife at her family’s home in Nathalia (40km north of Shepparton) and friends say their relationship is far from a lost cause.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Cathy Stevens, Anthony’s mother, revealed that her 30-year-old son’s marriage to 28-year-old Kellie was not yet doomed. Mrs Stevens made it clear she felt sympathy for her and that she remained part of her family, despite all that had happened.

Carey says sorry
Wayne Carey broke his silence on Thursday night admitting he had made “the biggest mistake I’ve ever made”.
In an exclusive interview with the Melbourne Herald Sun, Carey said he still loved his wife Sally, saying she had taken the brunt of his actions.
“Sally’s my wife, she’s the most important person in all of this, she’s the person I’ve hurt the most, Sally and Anthony (Stevens),” Carey said. “Obviously I’ve got to talk to her over the next couple of days and try to work through a few things.
“That’s going to take time but I’ve got the rest of my life to do that. I’ve got to do that day by day, I want to do that and obviously mend as many relationships as I can.
“It will be a slow process but it’s something I have to come to terms with.
“I’ve been talking to her mum, she’s obviously upset but Sally’s with her family and she’s got good people around her as well.
“With all the stuff going on around us we haven’t really had a chance to sit down and really talk.
“What Sally and I do should be private between her and I. I love Sally. I hope it all works out well. I’ve got to tell her that face to face.
“I don’t have to let everyone know that I love Sally, I’ve got to convince her rather than everybody else.”
According to the paper, Carey said he needed to concentrate on centering his life around the hurt he had caused his wife.
He said the enormity of the events and repercussions surrounding his affair with teammate
Anthony Stevens’ wife Kellie hit home about 4.30pm on Thursday. Then he cried for hours.
He had not spoken to Sally since Wednesday morning and he hadn’t even thought about continuing his football career.
He said he would try to fix the hurt he had caused to Sally, Stevens and their respective families.
As for the party itself, Carey said he and Kellie did not have sex, nor was there violence between him and Anthony Stevens at the party.

Martyn shows his support
Veteran Roos fullback Mick Martyn had strongly denied that Carey had been sacked or ousted by a vote of players.
Martyn told Channel Nine’s Footy Show on Thursday night that he wanted to come onto the program to speak on behalf the players. He then went on to speak of his admiration and support for Stevens, and to blame the media for “just wanting to bring someone down” and said people should concentrate only on football. “Even today around the club, you wouldn’t have picked it for one minute that the club is going anywhere but upwards. The people, the supporters who were there,
Anthony Stevens - I love him very much and he’s a fantastic bloke - he led us out. To see all the
people, supporters, cheering, it just makes you want to play for the club of North Melbourne,” he said. “I believe he’s very remorseful about what’s happened but I don’t reckon you should interfere with people’s personal lives, we’re here to play football. He’s a great player, Stevo’s a fantastic player. We’re all good people who make mistakes. I think everyone’s blaming this and that and judging people in that way. Let’s get on with football, put those issues aside and let them sort it out.”

Roos coach pays tribute to Carey
Roos coach Denis Pagan has praised both Carey and Stevens in this difficult time.
An emotional Stevens, who had returned to the club on Thursday from his parents’ Shepparton home with team-mates Glenn Archer and John Blakey, led the team on to Arden Street at training, to be greeted by rousing applause from the several hundred fans still coming to terms with the scandal.
The players, still shellshocked, received a stirring address from Pagan in the dressing rooms. The
players were told to answer the call in the club’s darkest hour, and “harness their emotions in the right way”.
Pagan said goodbye to Carey by leaving a message on his mobile telephone. He later fought back tears as he spoke in front of the media of losing the greatest player he has ever seen.
Pagan described Carey was a wonderful player for the club and the heartbeat of the Kangaroos. He would not dwell on this latest crisis, except to say that it was a tragic situation for those involved.
Pagan labelled Carey’s extraordinary exit from the club the most catastrophic event in his time at Arden Street. “I can probably list 10 things that have happened of catastrophic nature in my time at the Kangaroos, sure none as big as this,” he said. “But we found a way…”
Of his own famously long and close friendship with Carey, Pagan said that it reflected life in that no one could ever truly know what was around the corner.
Paying tribute to Stevens’ strength of character, Pagan spoke of the two men whose personal lives had so altered the club’s make-up. He admitted that addressing the Carey saga publicly for the first time had seen him close to tears. He thought of the first time he saw Carey when he came to Arden Street. He spoke to Carey about playing for the under-19s (where Pagan was the coach) and he said: ‘Turn it up, I’ll be playing in the seniors’.

Crean expresses regret at Carey’s demise
The Roos’ No.1 ticket-holder, Federal Opposition Leader Simon Crean, said Carey’s resignation was a tragedy for the Roos and their fans but the star’s behaviour was inexcusable.
Crean, who took over the Australian Labor Party leadership last December after the party’s defeat at the federal election, and who has been joint No.1 ticket-holder at the club for 16 years, said he was deeply shocked and saddened by the scandal. “It’s a price that even the mighty have to pay,” Crean said. “I just think it’s a huge tragedy all round for the people involved, him personally, the Kangaroos footy club, football generally.”
He said he was recently with Carey at a club family day and jumper presentation and he saw Carey play his final game for the Roos in a practice match on Saturday. Crean said Carey was the best player he had ever seen play.
Crean said he was concerned about the impact on younger supporters, especially the many children who wore Carey’s number 18 on their back.

Carey’s contract with Nike under review
Nike will reassess its sponsorship of Carey in the wake of his shock resignation from the club, and could use a contract morality clause to dump him.
Carey first signed to Nike in 1993 and since then the lucrative earnings bolstered Carey’s status as the league’s highest-earning player. Nike’s past promotions involving Carey have included the
high-profile “Roo Boy” television campaign. He is said to earn $500,000 a year through endorsements on top of his near-$1 million annual playing salary.
Nike spokeswoman Kate Meyers said Carey had been put on notice after his unceremonious departure. She said her company had never before dropped an athlete for bringing the company into disrepute.
Carey also has agreements in place with the Herald Sun (as a columnist) and Foxtel (as a footy commentator). Fox Footy Channel has backed Carey and maintained he would be used on air. Foxtel head of television Brian Walsh said plans to use Carey in Fox Footy shows and occasional commentary roles had not changed.
The six major sponsors of the Roos, including Mazda, Russell Athletic, Primus Communications,
Carlton and United Breweries and Qantas, had reaffirmed their association with the club.

Stevens and Archer favourites to replace Carey as Roos captain
The Roos’ match committee will meet this week to choose a new captain, but chief executive Michael Easy said the club would not be rushed into naming its new on-field leader.
Defender Glenn Archer is believed to remain the frontrunner for the position, with Stevens said to be unwilling - at the moment at least - to accept the top leadership role. Both players remained in Victoria and did not play in their team’s practice match against West Coast in Perth.

Carey’s former victim says he deserves it
A woman allegedly sexually assaulted by Carey six years ago reportedly laughed when she heard of his disgrace over an affair with a teammate’s wife.
The 26-year-old Melbourne woman, who had agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, said she was still angry about the sexual assault which saw Carey charged.
She had been walking down a city street with a friend in September 1995 when Carey lunged at her, grabbed one of her body parts and said why she did not go and get a bigger one He pleaded guilty to the assault in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in January 1996 and was released without conviction on the condition of good behaviour for 12 months.
The assault happened when Carey and other players left a bar after a marathon drinking session sparked by the loss of a game.
The woman, then 19, was granted a name suppression order and identified only as MSP. She also took civil action against Carey but received a public apology and a confidential settlement before proceedings began, the report said.
She told the newspaper she had been waiting for Carey to slip up and damage his career. She said Carey did not seem to have changed his view on women as objects.

Swans may pick Carey
Sydney has indicated to Nixon that it would like to talk to Carey when he is out of contract, while
several other clubs have expressed interest in recruiting him should he play in 2003.
Carey is unable to play for any other AFL club this year but he can be picked in the national draft at the end of the year and the Swans are seen as a logical choice for the former Wagga Wagga boy.
Swans chief executive Kelvin Templeton said it was an option the team would look at, but he doubted Carey would play again.

Nixon laughs off suggestions Carey could play for Brisbane
Nixon has dismissed a newspaper report that Carey was considering playing with the Brisbane Lions.
It was reported on Monday in Brisbane that a confidant of Carey’s management team had “floated” the idea with two highly placed Lions supporters.
However Nixon said he had no confidant in Brisbane. He told radio 3AW the stories about who he was going to play for and where he’s going to play were an absolute joke and he did not know where the Brisbane one came from. He said what the furtherest thing from Wayne Carey’s mind was football.
Nixon also said he would be speaking to the Roos this week about whether Carey stays on the list at Arden St.

Roos’ premiership odds tumble
Wayne Carey’s departure from the Roos has sent their odds for this season’s premiership plunging, according to TAB Sportsbet in Melbourne.
TAB Sportsbet have quoted the Roos a 31-1 chance to win this year’s premiership, out from 23-1 before Carey’s dramatic departure from his team of the past 13 years.
The betting agency also has the Roos a better chance now of finishing last without their captain,
shortening the price for the wooden sport for the Roos from 21-1 to 12-1.
Another betting agency Centrebet has suspended all betting on the Roos upon hearing of the news of Carey’s departure.
Centrebet boss Gerard Daffy told 3AW he was puzzled by the news, but later Centrebet spokesperson Fabian Cananzi said the company “had got a sniff of the Carey story early”. “Prior to yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) news the Kangaroos were $26 for the flag and today (Thursday) they’ll be around the $50 mark,” he said. “They were even money to make the eight and I reckon you’ll be getting closer to 11-8.”
He said the news could also affect the price on Denis Pagan as the first coach to be sacked.

General Silliness
The fallout from disgraced champion Wayne Carey’s shock resignation continued with even a ripple effect being felt in the media. For example, Herald Sun had just signed him up for another season as one of its columnists. That arrangement will disappear as quickly as did the champ’s 2002 career but that’s not what is causing great angst at the paper’s Southbank office. The big question there is: what should be done with the publicity shots taken a few days back of the Herald Sun footy team, Carey included, that they planned to use for its big season launch in a couple of weeks? It seems that the paper would either black Carey out of the pictures or repeat the logistical nightmare of gathering everyone together again and do the shoot all over again.

That’s all for now. Everyone is wondering how much the Carey scandal will hurt the Roos and how long it will take for this matter to be solved. Perhaps the last word should go to the Carey family, who posted the following message in a local newspaper in Wagga Wagga: “He who is innocent should cast the first stone.”

See you soon.

Regards,

Johnson Leung