WAYNE Carey and North Melbourne. For so many years, it was a marriage made in heaven.

Then, as some marriages do, it fell apart in an ugly, public way and many were hurt by the proceedings.

But reconciliation is on the doorstep.

Carey will be inducted into North's Hall of Fame later this month and chairman James Brayshaw said that the club and its former captain were well down the road towards embracing each other once again.

"We are very keen to have Wayne feel welcome at the club," Brayshaw said on Thursday.

"He’s a legend, the greatest player we’ve ever had, and I can tell you that Wayne will be inducted into the North Melbourne Hall of Fame.

"We’re delighted that he will. I think it’s a terrific decision by the selectors, because he’s a great of our football club and should be recognised as a hall of fame member."

Top football pundit and Herald Sun columnist Mike Sheahan named Carey as the greatest player of all time in The Australian Game of Football, a book released in 2008 to commemorate the game's 150th anniversary.

Now 37, Carey had a decorated 15-year playing career, leading the Roos to premierships in 1996 and 1999.

The star centre half-forward was also named captain of North's Team of the Century, picking up seven All-Australian guernseys (four as captain) and four Syd Barker Medals as the club's best-and-fairest player.

Following his controversial departure from Arden Street, Carey finished his career with 28 games in two seasons for the Adelaide Crows.

He spent 2006 as an assistant at Collingwood, but Brayshaw was unsure that a coaching role would be part of his return to North.

With both camps wary of Carey taking on too much too soon, his next football incarnation could be as mentor for young players.

"North Melbourne was his second family and yet he spent a long time away from his second family, and also a long time not feeling particularly comfortable about his second family," Brayshaw said.

"So we’ve got to make sure when he’s back, he feels like he belongs again, and that might take a bit of time.

"It’s not going to happen overnight, but I’m excited by the fact that a person like Wayne Carey’s going to be involved in the club again.

"I’m not sure the football department’s where he wants to be, but Wayne’s the sort of person that, once his life is sorted out, he could have an enormous role in guiding young people on the right track."

In recent years, Carey has sought help for anger management and alcohol and drug abuse and Brayshaw said sharing advice on those experiences would help him in the next chapter of his life.

"There are a lot of pitfalls along the way, as we’ve seen with a whole raft of AFL footballers," Brayshaw said.

"No-one knows more about that than 'the Duck' (Carey), and I think he could have a huge role – not only with footballers from our club but footballers around the league.

"[That could be] basically sitting them down and saying, 'Look, I’ve been there, I’ve done it, and if you take any advice from me these are the steps that you can take to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen anywhere else'.

"Leadership was always something Wayne had in spades and I think for the next 10 or 15 years, he could be a real leader in that area."