Legendary journalist Michael Sheahan has urged the AFL to make North Melbourne great Wayne Carey a Legend of the Australian Football Hall of Fame despite his long list of off-field scandals.
Carey, 53, was previously inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 2010.
The league reserves a special ‘Legends’ category for individuals who have had a ‘particularly significant positive impact on the game’.
Icons who’ve been inducted to the Legends group over the years include Hawthorn legend Jason Dunstall, Richmond, Essendon and GWS icon Kevin Sheedy and the great Norm Smith.
Carey is widely regarded as one of the best centre-half forwards to have played the sport, having won premierships in 1996 and 1999 with the Kangaroos.
He is a seven-time All-Australian – and was named captain of the squad four times – and a four-time Syd Barker medallist as North’s best and fairest.
Journalist Mike Sheahan believes the AFL should induct Wayne Carey (pictured) into the Australian Football Hall of Fame Legends category
The former North Melbourne star is widely regarded as one of the greatest to have played the sport – but his life off the field has been extremely controversial
But Carey, who retired in 2004 after a season with the Crows, has been involved in multiple scandals during and after his footy career.
Sheahan, who was previously one of the most respected voices in the game as the chief football writer at The Herald Sun, was asked whether Gary Ablett Snr and Carey should be inducted into the Legends category.
‘Short answer, yes,’ he told 3AW.
‘There’s lots of people who have got skeletons in the cupboard, some of whom are legends.
‘So I’m not sure… getting into the game where you say: “We’ll take things off-field into account,” you open yourself to a lot of criticism.
‘I don’t know how you define it though [being a Legend], what do you say?
‘Wayne Carey was denied status in the Hall of Fame of New South Wales only last year at the direction of the AFL. Andrew Dillon rang him up to tell him he wasn’t going to be in which I think was quite embarrassing.
‘Wayne’s had his discretions. But who hasn’t?’
Carey won multiple premierships with the Kangaroos – including the 1999 grand final (pictured) – and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010
But he has sparked controversy over the years, notably leaving North Melbourne after having an extramarital affair with team-mate Anthony Stevens’s wife
Back in 2002, it emerged that Carey had an extramarital affair with the wife of Kangaroos team-mate Anthony Stevens.
Carey subsequently left North following the incident and joined the Crows. He later admitted during an appearance on the reality TV show SAS Australia that it ‘haunted me for over 20 years’.
In 2007, Carey was arrested in the United States for allegedly breaking a wine glass in his fiancée Kate Neilson’s face.
Neilson did not press charges but claimed she was left ‘bleeding profusely from the mouth’.
Carey later pleaded guilty to two counts of battery of a law enforcement officer for fighting police after the incident.
In 2008, police used capsicum spray to subdue Carey after he assaulted officers in Port Melbourne.
In 2022, Carey was let go by Channel Seven after he was kicked out of a Perth casino when a bag containing an unidentified white powder allegedly fell out of his pocket.
