Wayne Carey cradles his rarely-seen son as he attends AFL game

AFL legend Wayne Carey took his rarely-seen son Carter to the 1996 premiership reunion game at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on Sunday.

The 51-year-old cradled his little boy in his lap as they watched his old team the North Melbourne Kangaroos and the Sydney Swans battle it out.

Wayne looked dapper in navy trousers, a light grey buttoned shirt and suit jacket as he proudly posed with Carter.

He was also sat alongside sports star Wayne Schwass and coach Denis Pagan at the game.

Wayne welcomed his son Carter with Victorian model Jessica Paulke in 2019.

At the time, he told The Herald Sun: ‘We are really excited. He is a beautiful, healthy baby, very calm like his mother, is sleeping well and eating well.’

‘Jess couldn’t be better. We are looking forward to a great year.’

Wayne added that he has high hopes one of his children might follow in his sporting footsteps, adding: ‘I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t want him to play the game his father loved playing and being a part of so much.’

Wayne was first linked to Jessica at the Australian Open in January 2018, making their romance Facebook official months later.

It comes after Wayne admitted to mental intimidation in his past relationships during his appearance on SAS Australia in February.

Chief instructor Ant Middleton said that despite being one of Australia’s most celebrated football players, Wayne had left behind a ‘trail of destruction’.

Wayne detailed his 2002 affair with Kelli Stevens, the wife of his then-teammate Anthony Stevens.

His revelation left Ant, 41, shocked, as Wayne said: ‘It’s haunted me for over 20 years. I was in self-destruction mode. You know, I guess my life started to unravel.’

The sports star was married to Sally McMahon at the time, and Anthony had even acted as a groomsman at their wedding just a year earlier.

Wayne later issued a public apology to his former best friend in 2016, insisting the affair had been a one-night only event.

Following the highly publicised affair, he left his football club and struck up a relationship with model Kate Neilson, who he later proposed to, and things turned from bad to worse.

He was arrested and charged by Miami police during a holiday with Kate after she alleged that Wayne had smashed a wine glass on her face during dinner, cutting her mouth and neck.

‘In America, I’ve been charged with assaulting police. I got accused of glassing my girlfriend,’ he told Ant.

‘I went over to throw wine on her in a restaurant, which clearly is wrong. The glass touched her lip, the headlines were that I glassed her.’

Seemingly not convinced by Wayne’s version of events, a cynical Ant asked him: ‘What the f**k are you playing at? What went through your head?’

Wayne said that the incident was ‘one of the biggest regrets of my life’, but insisted the glass had only ‘touched her lip’.

‘[It] didn’t break. I wasn’t trying to glass her,’ he said.

Ant then asked Wayne if he was ‘an aggressive person’.

‘All my partners will say I’ve never been physically abusive, but have I been abusive mentally and also, I guess, intimidating? Absolutely,’ Wayne said.

Added Ant: ‘You have this f**king attitude, “I’m the world’s greatest footballer, I do what the f**k I want.”‘

But Wayne said Ant’s assessment of him wasn’t true, and his bad behaviour was ‘due to a number of reasons’.

‘Actually being physically violent to someone, I saw that everyday growing up… Horrific stuff,’ he said.

‘And that’s why when people close to me said, “That is unacceptable,” I’d say, “What do you mean? I raised my voice, I stood up. You know, I put my arm on her.”‘

He added: ‘I now know how warped my thinking was. You don’t actually have to hit someone to be abusive.’