The news that former footballer Wayne Carey was booked to give a “nothing is off limits interview” at a function in his hometown had the cream of Melbourne’s journalists hot footing it to Wagga Wagga.
Hours before Carey was due to speak at the RSL club on Thursday evening – his first appearance since he dropped a bag of white powder at a Perth Casino – the NSW city was swarming with reporters.
Wayne Carey has been booked in to speak at the Wagga Wagga RSL on Thursday night.Credit:AAP
But among the people of Wagga, some of whom some consider Carey a hero and others a “goose” with a taste for scandal and bad decisions, the mood ahead of his impending arrival was lukewarm at best, indifferent at worst.
“I didn’t even know to be honest, and I couldn’t care,” Harry Unthank said about the sporting great’s planned appearance.
Unthank’s friend, Stephen, added: “I think there are bigger things on people’s minds.
“We’ve come out of a pandemic, real estate prices are through the roof, agriculture is gangbusters. People aren’t worried about small fish anymore.”
Some media who had bought tickets to attend the function – which was organised by a group for “like-minded good blokes” – were notified on Thursday afternoon their booking had been cancelled.
Wayne Carey’s football career began at this ground in Wagga Wagga.Credit:Pat Scala
Carey was escorted out of Crown Perth last Thursday night when a small bag containing a powdered substance fell out of his pocket. The dual North Melbourne premiership captain had been out for dinner with friends at Silks, a fine-dining restaurant at the casino complex, before the incident.
Carey has said the substance was legal anti-inflammatory medication and that he offered to give it to Crown security at the time, but they didn’t take it and police weren’t called. This version of events is now being disputed by the casino.
“It was not an illegal substance, it was offered to security. Security didn’t take it,” Carey told The Age on Monday night. “They just said it’s not a great look, I understood that, and we left without incident.”
On Wednesday, Maurice Blackburn lawyers said they had been retained by the former footballer to assess whether he was unlawfully discriminated against.
When The Age spoke to locals in Wagga on Thursday morning, most were suspicious of Carey’s explanation of the incident and one questioned why anyone would “bother pounding up anti-inflammatories”.
Husband and wife John and Jill said Carey was “a bit of a goose” who had earned a reputation for getting into trouble since his days as a junior footballer.
“He just won’t grow up and just keeps on making bad mistakes,” Jill said. “It’s a shame because he has got children, so they will probably be cringing in their shoes with the latest one.”
A young bartender at a pub on Fitzmaurice Street had never heard of Carey. Others said they didn’t follow the AFL and weren’t familiar with the scandal. “I see it’s like the NRL,” one woman joked.
Coach Denis Pagan and skipper Wayne Carey led the Kangaroos to their last flag in 1999.Credit:Sebastian Costanzo
Located on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River and halfway between Melbourne and Sydney, Wagga lies on the “Barassi Line”, in the borderlands between Australia’s footballing codes.
Despite a population of less than 70,000, the city has spawned a long list of talented sportspeople alongside Carey, including footballer Paul Kelly, rugby league halfback Peter Sterling and rugby union greats Nathan Sharpe and Nathan Hines.
Carey began his footy career playing for the North Wagga Saints before joining North Melbourne as a 16-year-old in 1987. He left the club in 2002 after an affair with Anthony Stevens’ wife and spent his last two AFL seasons playing with Adelaide.
Last month, Carey was involved in an argument with Stevens during a 1996 premiership reunion function, although there was no physical fight and, according to Carey, they later had “a couple of beers together”.
Whether the latest incident will be the scandal that leads to Carey’s undoing remains to be seen. In Wagga, the sporting legend has already lost his lustre.
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