Footy legend Anthony Stevens recalls the shocking incident that left him one centimetre from death – but forgets to mention Wayne Carey’s involvement

Two-time AFL Premiership player Anthony Stevens woke up to a window pane holding him within inches of death as he left a pub.

Stevens, 53, was seriously injured from the corner of his mouth to his shoulder in 2000 when glass fell on him outside a hotel in North Melbourne.

The bizarre accident occurred as he was leaving the Redback Brewery Hotel, which was then co-owned by his mate Wayne Carey. This came just two years before Carey’s affair with Stevens’ ex-wife Kelli became public, forcing the football legend to leave the club in disgrace.

Stevens had gone to the pub after the Kangaroos’ loss and had just one beer with his friends before leaving through a side door.

“I heard a bang and felt the force hitting my face. It was basically a whole sheet of glass coming down and hitting me from there up to my neck,” Stevens told Channel Seven’s The Front Bar on Wednesday night, but declined to name Carey.

‘There were two main arteries severed and they basically said it was a centimeter away from the main artery and if it had hit there I would have bled to death.

“But I was two seconds away, across the road from the Royal Melbourne Hospital.”

The brother of former football star Shannon Grant got into his car and rushed Stevens to the hospital for treatment.

The champion was out of action for more than three months after the incident, in which he lost two liters of blood.

“If I had been 10 minutes from a hospital I would have bled to death,” he told Fox Footy in 2015.

‘The next day the specialist came and assessed the whole situation. He said I had to have the nerves reattached.

“He basically said he didn’t know how lucky he would be. He said I would probably have a drooping shoulder and a drooping lip for the rest of my life and I certainly wouldn’t be able to play football.

The pub where Stevens lost his life was co-owned by his then-mate Wayne Carey (pictured together) – who infamously ended their friendship just two years later

Carey and Stevens were once close on and off the field, but had a bitter feud that resurfaced when they clashed in a Melbourne pub in 2022

‘I wasn’t too worried about football at the time, but eventually I had surgery and he was able to put everything back together… I was finally able to play again 14 weeks later.’

Carey and Stevens’ friendship ended after an affair that saw ‘The King’ leave the North for the Adelaide Crows.

The two clashed on the field when the teams played each other in 2003, and there was another off-field brawl in 2022.

They reportedly had to be separated when they bumped into each other in a Melbourne pub in August of that year, while in the city for a 1996 premiership reunion.

Witnesses claim Carey accused Stevens of “talking behind his back and telling people he was unavailable and not to try and speak to him, but that he was perfectly happy in person afterwards,” according to a report on SEN radio.