NORTH Melbourne champion Wayne Carey has spoken of his great pride at being inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night.

Carey's controversial off-field past saw him passed over by the selection committee for the first two years he was eligible, but that mattered little to the seven-time All-Australian when he addressed AFL luminaries at Melbourne's Crown Palladium.

"A few people have [talked] to me about this two-year wait, but I met [dual Brownlow Medallist] Peter Moore for the first time about three weeks ago at a function and he only got inducted [a few] years ago," Carey said.

"Looking around this room it's just a huge honour to be inducted and I would have been more than happy to wait five years. I'm thrilled to be standing here now."

Despite his indiscretions it was only a matter of time before the former Kangaroos skipper would be ushered into the elite group.

Over the span of his 272-game career, Carey tasted premiership success twice, won his club's best-and-fairest award four times and was leading goalkicker on five occasions to ultimately earn a place in North's Team of the Century.

Visibly nervous, Carey was quick to thank his former teammates and family for helping him through the good times and bad, which included his departure from North on the eve of the 2002 season and help sought for anger management and alcohol and drug abuse.

"This is an individual honour but you wouldn't be standing here without your teammates," he said.

"One reason I'm here is because we were a very good side, the Kangaroos, throughout the '90s. It gets overlooked that we played in seven preliminary finals in a row and three of those grand finals. It's for that reason that I stand here.

"One thing about a team is that when you've got your backs to the wall or you're not in good form, your teammates are always there to pick you up.

"On the other side of that life, when things aren't going well you have your family and close friends to be there. If it wasn't for those people … I wouldn't be standing here."

Carey's ex-wife Sally, with whom he has a young daughter, wasn't at the function which was a decision they had reached together.

"We've had discussions over the last couple of weeks about would she come or wouldn't she come and in the end she said that it would be a little bit too emotional for her," Carey said after the ceremony.

"I totally understand that. If she was there it might have been too emotional for me.

"There are a lot of sacrifices and she did so much and I felt it was important that I did give her that mention. The other reason that she wasn't there was because we didn't want any rumours or anything going around the next day either."

Carey also acknowledged former North coach Denis Pagan and general manager Greg Miller, his brother Dick, his parents and his managers Anthony McConville and Ricky Nixon, who he joked he had put through a lot over the journey.