{"id":259586,"date":"2022-12-28T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2022-12-28T06:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=259586"},"modified":"2022-12-28T22:57:27","modified_gmt":"2022-12-28T22:57:27","slug":"afl-rejects-stunning-road-to-being-mcg-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=259586","title":{"rendered":"AFL reject's stunning road to being MCG hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Carey<\/a> once aspired to play an AFL grand final at the MCG, but it's cricket where he has finally found success on the hallowed turf.<\/p>\n

Carey, 31, was once an AFL prospect, drafted to the GWS Giants in his early 20s.<\/p>\n

He captained the team ahead of its entry into the 2012 competition but was dropped from the list before making it to the top.<\/p>\n

ULTIMATE GUIDE:<\/strong> Everything you need to know about the United Cup<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Mark Taylor's big call on Warner after double century<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffTHE MOLE:<\/strong> 'Most confused player' who left his club hanging<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Instead, Carey sought to reinvent himself. He returned to cricket, another sport he'd played at a young age, plying his trade as a wicketkeeper-batter.<\/p>\n

The two sports couldn't be further apart, perhaps the only similarity being that of the grounds upon which games are played.<\/p>\n

Tim Paine's fall from grace<\/a> eventually opened the door for Carey, who in 2021 made his Test debut. Now, in just his 13th match, the South Australian is a centurion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For his wife, Eloise Carey, it's been an emotional rollercoaster, labelling the moment at the MCG on Wednesday "unreal".<\/p>\n

"It's been a huge, huge day and it's just really exciting for everyone, for the whole family," Eloise said.<\/p>\n

"It's one of those things you kind of never expect to happen. You hope it's going to happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's been a huge day.<\/p>\n

"Still a bit nervous, as you can probably tell. Emotions are high.<\/p>\n

"I met him when he was unemployed, or working for a financial planning firm.<\/p>\n

"He wasn't doing any sport. He was home too much and now it's gone the other way; he's always gone.<\/p>\n

"To be honest, I thought it was a good idea because it's a lot safer than football. I was always never really on board with AFL because they all get injured so often.<\/p>\n

"I thought, 'Well, cricket is safe, so give that a go'. Maybe not too safe after this week given the injuries (to Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green<\/a>), the poor boys."<\/p>\n

It was a monumental day for Carey, who ended a nine-year drought for Australian wicketkeeper-batsmen in Test cricket.<\/p>\n

\"Warner<\/p>\n

Brad Haddin was the last to score a century, in 2013, his fourth in a storied career that included 66 matches.<\/p>\n

Carey's wife struggled to contain herself as she recounted the day's achievement.<\/p>\n

"He's worked so hard," she said, holding back tears.<\/p>\n

"There's been so many people involved. His parents would have loved to be here today. My family has been so supportive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It takes a lot for someone to get to this point in their career. There's a lot of people behind the scenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He's always been the first person at training and the last person to leave. He works hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"He's so deserving of this. Very proud. You can't imagine your husband making a century in the Boxing Day Test."<\/p>\n

\ufeffFor a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Carey once aspired to play an AFL grand final at the MCG, but it's cricket where he has finally found success on the hallowed […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=259586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259588,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259586\/revisions\/259588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=259586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=259586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=259586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}