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Anthony Stevens on Open Mike

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I watched it last night with Mrs OF who was no where near football when it happened.

Three notable things that she said
1) He just seems so nice and what happened to him was horrible.
2) Man that guy was tough.
3) Wow - at the sheer amopunt of media it got at the time.

Played the 99 GF with a fractured foot (was a 14 week injury back then) and then ripped his pectoral muscle off the bone during the game.. not to mention the freak near death neck laceration that should have resulted in death.

Ridiculously tough human being!
 
Why 360 decided to show it in the week we played our first final shits me to tears. They put a negative spin on an important week for us.
I'm not talking about Stevo being on O.M which was great. I'm talking about commercials only showing the questions about the affair before we played on Sunday!
Thank god we won but still Piss Week by 360 on their timing and negative spin on the interview..
 
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Why 360 decided to show it in the week we played our first final shits me to tears. They put a negative spin on an important week for us.
I'm not talking about Stevo being on O.M which was great. I'm talking about commercials only showing the questions about the affair before we played on Sunday!
Thank god we won but still piss week by 360 on their timing and negative spin on the interview..
Yep I though the same.

Maybe because its finals time and the viewers of the non-finals playing sides drop off dramatically, so they may have used it as a ratings boost??
 

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I was pretty keen to watch this
Then about 5 mins in I realised I don't care anymore. What ever happened, I don't need to know. The whole thing is sad. Don't begrudge Stevo for having his say and have nothing but admiration for him. I would have been more interested if there was more stories about the football. Sadly the affair will always be the first thing that people remember when they think of Stevo.

Yeah, for some bizarre reason I thought that they'd spend 5 minutes on the affair and then rest of the interview on Stevo's magnificent career, which is the only reason I decided to watch it.

More fool me for thinking that a show about footy would actually talk about footy :(
 
My opinion and my opinion only is that Stevo hasn't moved on and if he doesn't soon he will become bitter and twisted. Hopefully last night is the start of that. Funnily enough he didn't seem to blame his (ex) wife at all, although there were a couple of mentions of her. I am sure Mike would have liked to have asked about her other dalliances. He did say that she hurt him badly and yet he went back to her and had another baby. What Wayne did was a shocking thing but Kelli could have said NO and she didn't so she is just as much to blame. Wayne seems to have had the counselling he needs and has moved on maybe its time for Stevo to do the same. He doesn't have to forgive anyone just get on with his own life. He was recently in a relationship with a current netballer but that's seems to have fizzled out maybe he needs to find the love of a good woman to help him heal properly. I am sure that there would be trust issues in any relationship he becomes involved in and that would make it difficult on all parties.
I would assume that in the public view he would have felt compelled to some point to protect the mother of his children to some degree hence laying less blame on her.
I'm sure in private he would think a lot different.


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Exactly.

Mike mentioned Stevo played 16 straight years averaging 20+ possessions in EVERY one of those years.

He was a superstar.
Would be amazing if true, but unfortunately that's wrong according to wikipedia.
He averaged less than twenty in 89,90,91,92,00,02,04.
He did average over twenty for his career.
Not taking anything away from how bloody good he was for so long, but maybe Mike Sheahan's team should check their facts a bit more carefully.
 
Would be amazing if true, but unfortunately that's wrong according to wikipedia.
He averaged less than twenty in 89,90,91,92,00,02,04.
He did average over twenty for his career.
Not taking anything away from how bloody good he was for so long, but maybe Mike Sheahan's team should check their facts a bit more carefully.
AFL Tables has him averaging 16+ every year from 1991 til his retirement.

I have that source as more reliable than wiki, but yeah he was still pretty handy despite Mike's error.

http://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/A/Anthony_Stevens.html

Champion bloke, champion player, with an inhuman amount of courage. 2 best and fairest awards, both in Premiership years in a team full of superstars says it all really.
 
Would be amazing if true, but unfortunately that's wrong according to wikipedia.
He averaged less than twenty in 89,90,91,92,00,02,04.
He did average over twenty for his career.
Not taking anything away from how bloody good he was for so long, but maybe Mike Sheahan's team should check their facts a bit more carefully.

For some reason I thought Mike was referring to the "premiership years" - ie 93-99 when Stevo did in fact average over 20 a game.

Could be wrong though.
 
My opinion and my opinion only is that Stevo hasn't moved on and if he doesn't soon he will become bitter and twisted. Hopefully last night is the start of that. Funnily enough he didn't seem to blame his (ex) wife at all, although there were a couple of mentions of her. I am sure Mike would have liked to have asked about her other dalliances. He did say that she hurt him badly and yet he went back to her and had another baby. What Wayne did was a shocking thing but Kelli could have said NO and she didn't so she is just as much to blame. Wayne seems to have had the counselling he needs and has moved on maybe its time for Stevo to do the same. He doesn't have to forgive anyone just get on with his own life. He was recently in a relationship with a current netballer but that's seems to have fizzled out maybe he needs to find the love of a good woman to help him heal properly. I am sure that there would be trust issues in any relationship he becomes involved in and that would make it difficult on all parties.
Is the kelly sleeping around with others public knowledge? Would like to he filled in please.

I still remember hearing that carey had quit the club, I know where I was and what I was doing. Was too young to really understand what he had done, I just didnt want my idol to go, hated it.

I still hate hearing about it now, seeing carey in an adelaide gurnsey sickens me.

We never got to properly say goodbye and thank you for everything Wayne did on the field for us, and we probably never will. Its sad.

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Lance Franklin rumours ‘absolutely laughable’, says Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham

SWANS chairman Andrew Pridham has shot down a slew of vicious rumours now surrounding superstar forward Lance Franklin.

Franklin won’t play again this season because of mental health issues, but the football world is awash with claims his absence has been fuelled by problems with drugs, alcohol and sexual interludes.

Pridham on Wednesday took the unusual step of dismissing one of the wilder stories, that Franklin had been caught having a sexual dalliance with a teammate’s partner and the players had pressured Franklin out of the club.

“I’ve heard that one,’’ Pridham said.

“On that specific one, I’m extremely close to the other player and it’s laughable, absolutely laughable.

“The player doesn’t even have a partner, by the way, so it would be a neat trick.

“I’ve heard all the rumours and I wouldn’t say we investigate them, but certainly the most substantial and salacious-type rumours — I’m comfortable they’re false.’’



Franklin, who is on a $10 million deal with the Swans, informed the club on September 7 that he was suffering mental health issues.

It was also revealed Franklin suffered mild epilepsy attacks, one of which occurred the day before the Round 23 clash against the Gold Coast Suns, but the club confirmed the two issues were not related.

On Monday, the Swans announced Franklin would not play for the remainder of the season.

Pridham’s support for Franklin came as his fiancee, Jesinta Campbell, stepped back into the public spotlight, helping some of his junior teammates move a television set from the couple’s Rose Bay home.

A grinning Campbell was pictured hauling furniture out of the house and alarm bells started sounding — along with suggestions the glamour pair had split.

However, Franklin and Campbell’s spokeswoman, Sharon Finnigan, was quick to throw cold water on the rumours.

“Regarding the photos of furniture being moved out — we had a TV unit that Lance had given to a couple of young players at the Swans, who collected it today,” she on the couple’s behalf said via email.

Campbell’s engagement ring was visible in a number of the photographs.



While the Swans and Campbell have remained largely silent on the Franklin situation, the rumour mill has been frantic.

They included claims of sexual misconduct, that he had split with Campbell, the use of and problems with illicit drugs as well as prescription drugs, that he was in rehabilitation in the United States and that an underlying problem was excessive use of alcohol.

Pridham said he was disappointed and frustrated by the personal attacks on Franklin.

“It’s a reflection of the society we’re in,’’ he said.

“It’s unfair. Sometimes the more outrageous rumours are more believable to some people. What can you do about it?

“That’s the cross these high-profile people have to bear. People say stuff, make stuff up, I don’t know where the stuff comes from.

“I’ve heard countless rumours (about Franklin),” he said.

“Can I say 100 per cent categorically they are all wrong? I can’t, because I don’t follow him around.

“But I know where he’s at and I know him well enough to say, I’ve great confidence (in him) and I don’t put too much store in rumours.”



AFL chief executive Gil McLachlan said some of the rumours “just wasn’t possible to be true” and has urged fans to leave Franklin alone.

“Please, give him the space he needs to deal with it, because it’s unbelievably tough,” McLachlan said on AFL360 on Wednesday night.

“I’ve spoken to enough people that have had these challenges and I know of it enough and I’ve spoken to the experts – he just needs to be left alone.”

Pridham said media people had confronted him with rumours, but no one had yet published the rumours.

“And the reason they don’t get printed is because they’re not true and often people just try to elicit a response.

“I’ve been at the Swans for 14 years and you get a feeling where things are at, where the players are at.

“I’m pretty close to a number of the senior players and I can tell you, they have the highest regard for Buddy and I’d be highly confident that if there was any substance to those things 1) they would know because they are a very tight group and 2) I’d hear it.’’



Pridham said the club was continuing to work with Franklin.

And the Swans’ chairman added: “My understanding is he’s in a good state, in good shape, and he’ll be back bigger and better next year, that’s the general feeling.”

And that was another rumour, that Franklin had played his last game for the Swans.

“I think that’s completely wrong,’’ Pridham aid.

The Swans boss said the club was not aware if Franklin had any mental issues before it recruited him, but doubted if the Hawks knew either.

“It’s built up for a variety of reasons, which I do understand, and it got to the point — and it’s a very important point — where he came forward and said he needed help. I think that is incredibly brave.

“And I’m really proud of the club in that at no point did anyone have any thought other than getting him right.

“There was never a time of, ‘We’re in the finals, let’s wait a couple of weeks’,’’ he said.
 
Lance Franklin rumours ‘absolutely laughable’, says Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham

SWANS chairman Andrew Pridham has shot down a slew of vicious rumours now surrounding superstar forward Lance Franklin.

Franklin won’t play again this season because of mental health issues, but the football world is awash with claims his absence has been fuelled by problems with drugs, alcohol and sexual interludes.

Pridham on Wednesday took the unusual step of dismissing one of the wilder stories, that Franklin had been caught having a sexual dalliance with a teammate’s partner and the players had pressured Franklin out of the club.

“I’ve heard that one,’’ Pridham said.

“On that specific one, I’m extremely close to the other player and it’s laughable, absolutely laughable.

“The player doesn’t even have a partner, by the way, so it would be a neat trick.

“I’ve heard all the rumours and I wouldn’t say we investigate them, but certainly the most substantial and salacious-type rumours — I’m comfortable they’re false.’’



Franklin, who is on a $10 million deal with the Swans, informed the club on September 7 that he was suffering mental health issues.

It was also revealed Franklin suffered mild epilepsy attacks, one of which occurred the day before the Round 23 clash against the Gold Coast Suns, but the club confirmed the two issues were not related.

On Monday, the Swans announced Franklin would not play for the remainder of the season.

Pridham’s support for Franklin came as his fiancee, Jesinta Campbell, stepped back into the public spotlight, helping some of his junior teammates move a television set from the couple’s Rose Bay home.

A grinning Campbell was pictured hauling furniture out of the house and alarm bells started sounding — along with suggestions the glamour pair had split.

However, Franklin and Campbell’s spokeswoman, Sharon Finnigan, was quick to throw cold water on the rumours.

“Regarding the photos of furniture being moved out — we had a TV unit that Lance had given to a couple of young players at the Swans, who collected it today,” she on the couple’s behalf said via email.

Campbell’s engagement ring was visible in a number of the photographs.



While the Swans and Campbell have remained largely silent on the Franklin situation, the rumour mill has been frantic.

They included claims of sexual misconduct, that he had split with Campbell, the use of and problems with illicit drugs as well as prescription drugs, that he was in rehabilitation in the United States and that an underlying problem was excessive use of alcohol.

Pridham said he was disappointed and frustrated by the personal attacks on Franklin.

“It’s a reflection of the society we’re in,’’ he said.

“It’s unfair. Sometimes the more outrageous rumours are more believable to some people. What can you do about it?

“That’s the cross these high-profile people have to bear. People say stuff, make stuff up, I don’t know where the stuff comes from.

“I’ve heard countless rumours (about Franklin),” he said.

“Can I say 100 per cent categorically they are all wrong? I can’t, because I don’t follow him around.

“But I know where he’s at and I know him well enough to say, I’ve great confidence (in him) and I don’t put too much store in rumours.”



AFL chief executive Gil McLachlan said some of the rumours “just wasn’t possible to be true” and has urged fans to leave Franklin alone.

“Please, give him the space he needs to deal with it, because it’s unbelievably tough,” McLachlan said on AFL360 on Wednesday night.

“I’ve spoken to enough people that have had these challenges and I know of it enough and I’ve spoken to the experts – he just needs to be left alone.”

Pridham said media people had confronted him with rumours, but no one had yet published the rumours.

“And the reason they don’t get printed is because they’re not true and often people just try to elicit a response.

“I’ve been at the Swans for 14 years and you get a feeling where things are at, where the players are at.

“I’m pretty close to a number of the senior players and I can tell you, they have the highest regard for Buddy and I’d be highly confident that if there was any substance to those things 1) they would know because they are a very tight group and 2) I’d hear it.’’



Pridham said the club was continuing to work with Franklin.

And the Swans’ chairman added: “My understanding is he’s in a good state, in good shape, and he’ll be back bigger and better next year, that’s the general feeling.”

And that was another rumour, that Franklin had played his last game for the Swans.

“I think that’s completely wrong,’’ Pridham aid.

The Swans boss said the club was not aware if Franklin had any mental issues before it recruited him, but doubted if the Hawks knew either.

“It’s built up for a variety of reasons, which I do understand, and it got to the point — and it’s a very important point — where he came forward and said he needed help. I think that is incredibly brave.

“And I’m really proud of the club in that at no point did anyone have any thought other than getting him right.

“There was never a time of, ‘We’re in the finals, let’s wait a couple of weeks’,’’ he said.

Why don't "they" leave people alone while they are in trouble ??
 
Now Kelli has spoken with a big article in the Herald sun, someone in the know how may know how to get the link.



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KELLI Stevens has sensationally revealed Wayne Carey begged her to start a new life with him in the days after their infamous affair was discovered.

Kelli, 41, told the Herald Sun she was “sick of the lies” still surrounding their secret affair, the exposure of which rocked the football world 13 years ago.

She says the then Kangaroos captain begged her to leave her husband, Anthony Stevens, his vice-captain and best friend of over 10 years.

“He rang me and said, ‘Why don’t we just come out and say we love each other?’

“He even asked to speak to my parents to try and persuade them, too,” Kelli said.

story-fnpp4dl6-1227534055428

“But I felt it was all about him, because of his career.”

Kelli also denies they both wanted to start an affair. She says he ruthlessly pursued her for a sexual relationship.


1227534055154

Anthony Stevens embraces Kelli and daughter Ayva after his final game.


However, she concedes her mistake in agreeing to start the passionate affair with Carey, saying they found it impossible to stop until it was too late.

“It was all-consuming. When you are in the middle of something like that it’s like a trap because you can’t stop.

“We often told each other we loved each other.”

The divorcee accuses the controversial Channel 7 commentator, 44, of lying about the infamous toilet incident at a March 2002 party which finally exposed the sordid affair.

Carey, who became a father again in January when partner Stephanie Edwards gave birth to a girl, wrote in a 2009 autobiography that he had shouted at Kelli to leave the bathroom.

Of the hurt she felt when she read this, Kelli says: “I just thought, how can someone come and out and tell lies, straight-out lies?

“He didn’t tell me to get out of the toilet or anything like that. We were in there for two minutes at least. We were kissing, said ‘love you’, and went back to the party.”


1227534056648

Kelli Stevens outside her Moama home. Picture: Jay Town


Kelli is furious her ex-husband, Stevens, 44, also spoke about the affair for the first time in a TV interview this week, labelling him “selfish”.

“He showed a real lack of thought. He doesn’t seem to have any empathy,” she says.

Speaking at her home in Moama, NSW, Kelli says it is finally time to tell her side.

Now working as a spa therapist in Echuca, Kelli says she is worried about the effect of lies on their children Ayva, 14, and River, aged 9.

“All I care about is the kids,” she says.

Kelli also says that the affair was, in fact, a symptom of the strains on her marriage to Stevens.

“There were times when he didn’t get home five nights in a row, and things like that,” Kelli says.



055208-9dc6b1c4-5da9-11e5-97d1-bb22eebd3622.jpg

Kelli and Anthony.

055235-9ed250fa-5da9-11e5-97d1-bb22eebd3622.jpg

Carey arrives at a press conference to resign from North Melbourne.



WOMAN AT THE HEART OF FOOTY’S BIGGEST SCANDAL COMES OUT SWINGING


KELLI Stevens still has the same alluring, charismatic beauty which ultimately led to Wayne Carey’s downfall, but right now she’s wearing her angry face.

Gesticulating wildly as we talk in her front garden in Moama, NSW, the 41-year-old says it’s finally time for her side of the story to be heard.

After all, her former lover “The King” Carey, 44, and ex-husband Anthony Stevens have both had their own say about the infamous affair in 2002 — shattering friendships, marriages, careers and a whole AFL team along the way.

This once honey-blonde WAG is now a wellness warrior. She’s been silent for 13 years. Until now.

This isn’t a kiss ‘n’ tell.

This is a kiss ‘n’ yell.

“It’s like I’ve been thrown to the wolves again,” she says.

Stevens, 44, didn’t warn her he was doing a TV interview for Fox Footy about the affair this week, Kelli claims, and she’s livid.

“It’s been an emotional few days, it’s like a nightmare that never stops,” she says.

“The past keeps coming back.”

That’s putting it mildly.

Kelli’s “past” is a skeleton weighted with ten tonnes of bricks that regularly falls out of the cupboard.

But the mother-of-two concedes immediately it was a mistake to have an affair with sports icon Carey — the captain of North Melbourne at the time but, more pertinently, her husband Anthony’s best friend.


1227534055291

Wayne Carey (centre) celebrates a win with Anthony Stevens (right) after a win over Essendon in 1998.


They were like brothers, the dream team who played magnificently together for the Kangaroos from 1989 to 2001.


She agrees there could be no greater betrayal.

“But things don’t always get planned in life,” she says.

“It’s something that happened and looking back, of course I made a mistake but now I see it as a symptom of my marriage.”

She points out that when she fell in love at the age of 17 with Stevens, who was 21 and already a Kangaroos star, she only ever dreamt of the happy ever after.

“It was definitely lust at first, he was so handsome,” she says.

“I wasn’t that into football so it wasn’t about his status or fame. I just loved him.”

But even early in their relationship there were problems, she claims, not helped by constant pressure put on the players by coach Denis Pagan.

“Footballers get very stressed, so we would have our rough times,” she says.

After the couple married in 1998, Kelli reveals, they tried unsuccessfully to start a family naturally and turned to IVF which finally resulted in the birth of their first child, Ayva, in 2001.


1227534055318

Kelli and Anthony with baby Ayva.


But the whole process was a strain.

So things weren’t so picture perfect then when her friendship with Wayne — a huge part of the couple’s close-knit group which included Wayne’s new wife, Sally — suddenly turned dangerously flirty in November 2001 at a wedding.

“He rang me every day for three weeks afterwards. He was pushing it, it wasn’t mutual despite what he says,” she says.

Still only 27, Kelli felt cornered, but admits she also felt excited.

“I had never felt like that before,” she says.

“It was exciting. No one had shown me this type of attention before.”

When all the flirting finally turned sexual, Kelli found their secret liaisons so addictive, so passionate, she just couldn’t stop.

“Everyone must know what that feels like,” she says.

Kelli reveals the affair in fact grew so intense the pair told each other regularly that they loved each other.

“We both said we shouldn’t keep going ahead, but we really enjoyed each other’s company,” she says.


1227534056818

Kellis is now a busy single mum. Picture: Jay Town


And then, inevitably, it all went so terribly — and publicly — wrong.

The pair were both with their spouses and more than 100 others at a party thrown by teammate Glenn Archer at his home in early March 2002, when they were famously spotted leaving a toilet together by Stevens himself.

This is where Kelli gets agitated again.

She accuses Carey of lying in his 2009 biography about what actually occurred in the small bathroom.

Carey says he told her to get out.

She says otherwise, saying they kissed for two minutes before saying they loved each other.

But why did she take such a risk in the first place?

“I was actually just walking outside and saw him go into the toilet and without thinking just went straight in after him. It was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing,” she said.

“I just thought it was a chance to have a quiet moment together.”

In the ensuing bitter fallout, amid all the headlines and the humiliation, Kelli fled to her parents’ house with Ayva.

She reveals that Carey, who had instantly fallen from superhero to villain and resigned from North Melbourne in disgrace, rang a few days later begging for her to agree that he should announce in a TV interview they wanted to be together.

She declined.

“I had a young daughter,” she says.

“I just wanted that happy marriage back together, so he went back to Sally.”


1227534055401

Anthony and Kelli on their wedding day.


Like Wayne and Sally, Kelli and Anthony reconciled in the tearful months that followed, but both marriages were doomed, despite both couples welcoming a child each a few years later.

Kelli gave birth to River, now aged 9, again by IVF, and the couple tried to carve out a new life together in Echuca running a party hire business.

They finally divorced three years ago after first breaking up in 2008.

“We had fallen out of love, it just wasn’t working,” she says.

Now a busy single mum, Kelli is spa-therapist, running wellness expos and trying to get on cordially with Anthony, who lives in Bendigo, for the sake of their two children.

“I’d love to meet someone nice one day of course,” she smiles, now seemingly much calmer after telling her side of the story at last.

As we leave, River, the spitting image of his father, snaps a drop punt from across the street.

Kelli leaps up into the air in her skinny jeans and marks it like a pro.

She’s no longer a footballer’s wife or a footballer’s lover.

But she’s still a damned good catch.
Longest ****ing article.
 

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Bored with the affair angle too. Haven't seen the whole article, just the clip on the nmfc website, which was nicely balanced (weighted towards Stevo's playing career). Especially loved the bit about the 2002 opening game against Port - anyone who says footy only matters when you win a flag should be made to watch this game on a loop.
 

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Anthony Stevens on Open Mike

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