‘Move on’: Wayne Carey hits back as tweet reignites affair scandal
Wayne Carey has hit back after a two-word tweet went viral on Thursday, which opened old wounds from his infamous off field scandal.
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Controversial AFL legend Wayne Carey has hit out at media after a two-word tweet reignited his infamous scandal that ended his North Melbourne career.
The two-time premiership player with the Kangaroos appeared to reference the affair he had with the wife of his Kangaroos teammate Anthony Stevens in a bizarre exchange on social media on Wednesday.
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Carey set tongues wagging on Thursday when he posted about Jack Ginnivan’s decision to leave Collingwood for Hawthorn on the last day of the AFL Trade Period after it appeared he had been leapfrogged by new recruit Lachie Schultz in the small forward pecking order at the Magpies.
Then the conversation took a very rude turn.
“If your club gets a player that plays your position ? That should always be used as motivation to have the best pre-season you have ever had,” Carey wrote.
“Difference between being good and great ??Absolutely nothing beats hard work.”
Footy fans couldn’t help but remind Carey that his career went off the rails when he left North Melbourne for the Adelaide Crows following his affair with then teammate Steven’s wife Kelli.
One person responded on X: “How come you traded clubs?”
Carey replied: “Really?”
Another said: “Didn’t work hard enough?”
A third person added: “He slept with his teammates wife!”
To which Carey replied: “3 times.”
At the time of writing, Carey’s comment has received more than 850 likes and around 240 retweets.
One commenter summed up the reaction to Carey’s quip with: “This is taking ownership.” Others simply reacted with cry laughing and skull emojis.
But Carey has walked back the comments on Friday, hitting out at the media after his tweet spread far and wide.
“Media can bring up my past constantly with hardly any truth and I say 3 times being facetious and it causes a ruffle #perspective,” Carey wrote.
One commenter hit back at Carey’s comment, posting: “you ruined a footy club duck”.
Carey fired back: “Move on”.
The 2002 affair led to Carey missing that AFL season and finishing his career at Adelaide after a 244-game career at the Kangaroos.
Carey opened up on the scandal while competing on SAS Australia last year.
“I slept with a teammate’s wife. It’s haunted me for 20 years,” he said on the show.
“My integrity will always be questioned. I’m not trying to prove anything to the public — it’s to myself.
“People can change. They evolve. Hopefully this can help me.”
It was revealed last year Carey and Stevens were involved in a verbal stoush during North Melbourne’s reunion for the 1996 premiership team.
Carey insisted at the time the conversation was not heated.
Carey split from ex-wife Sally in 2006. The pair share daughter, Ella, born six weeks after the split was announced. Carey then began dating former model Kate Neilson.
He then became engaged to Stephanie Edwards in 2015, but separated a year later.
The pair have a daughter, Charlotte.
He also has a son, Carter, with model Jessica Paulke, with whom he split from in 2019 after dating for a year.
The 52-year-old most recently split from influencer Catie O’Neill.
Originally published as ‘Move on’: Wayne Carey hits back as tweet reignites affair scandal
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