While the two men will never again be close friends it is understood that the hand shake ended a meaningful, productive 15-minute conversation initiated by Stevens. A close associate of the pair reported that Stevens accepted that Carey remained truly sorry for the events that led to his departure from the club.

Both agreed to put an end to the awkwardness and bitterness that has clouded every celebration of the great Kangaroos era in which they took part. They also settled the issue of Carey's alleged lack of apology revealed by Stevens on Fox Footy's Open Mike last year.

Friends told Fairfax Media that while Carey had apologised to Stevens years ago for his extra marital affair the Kangaroos dual premiership captain now accepted he had not pushed the issue of saying sorry hard enough.

For the first time Stevens saw first hand the regret in Carey's physical demeanour. The meeting between the two took place on the eve of the club's formal 20-year reunion of the 1996 premiership which will also see Stevens inducted as a club legend at North's Hall of Fame function on Friday night at the MCG.

Ironically it was the omission of Jim Krakouer's name in a tribute video script that brought the two club greats together. Carey had taped a tribute video to Stevens and the other inductees but Krakouer had been left out.

Stevens, now back working at North Melbourne, called his close friend and club director Glenn Archer and asked him to pass on to Carey that he needed to add the Krakouer's name to the tribute. Momentously for all concerned he is believed to have added something along the following lines: "And tell 'Duck' we should catch up."

Having crossed paths with Carey twice since his Bali reconciliation with Archer it is clear that his spirits had significantly lifted as a result of their long conversation initiated by Archer after those two men literally ran into each other on the Indonesian holiday resort.

It was that Bali meeting that indirectly led to the more sensitive Stevens-Carey reunion. In Bali Carey is said to have pointed out that Stevens was the greatest team man he had known and therefore he wished for the sake of the great Kangaroos teams that Stevens and he could feel comfortable in each other's company.

While Carey has said in the past that therapy and family and the passage of time had helped him make peace with himself there is no doubt the Archer rapprochement had proved a major turning point for him. Although he has successfully rebuilt his relationship with the game at which he excelled the settlement with Archer had seen a psychological weight lifted.

Carey will miss the Hall of Fame event due to Channel Seven's Friday Night Football commitments but will attend Saturday's gathering at a West Melbourne hotel with every member of the 1996 premiership team barring John Blakey, who has to return to Sydney where he is a Swans' assistant coach.

According to all parties that function will now prove more enjoyable for all concerned with no players feeling guilty or disloyal or embarrassed depending on who they talk to.

Coincidentally premiership coach Denis Pagan and North's football boss Geoff Walsh, who bitterly fell out over Pagan's departure from the club, also caught up for lunch for their first meaningful meeting this week in more than 13 years and will both attend both events.

The Pagan-Walsh lunch was organised and witnessed by a mutual friend of both men. The only witness to the Stevens-Carey meeting was Carey's young daughter Charlotte.

By late Thursday at Arden Street, as word spread around the club of the Carey-Stevens reconciliation, the view among North powerbrokers was that the forthcoming weekend's celebrations were now something to truly be relished. That spirit will hopefully extend to the 20-year reunion of the 1999 flag in 2019.

Carey called Archer to thank him for his pivotal role in the momentous turn of events. As the North champion commented to others he remained fully aware that for Stevens there would always be hurt. But this, finally, he said "will be a true reunion."