The Kangaroos will rely on former great Wayne Carey to help sell their continued push into the Canberra market, where they will play three home games this year.

But Carey was a non-starter for his scheduled appearance in Canberra on Tuesday where the Kangaroos announced they would be giving away 9,000 free tickets for their June 5 match against Melbourne at Manuka Oval through a sponsorship deal with Foxtel Digital.

With their nine-game, three-year deal at Manuka Oval to end at the completion of the 2006 season, the fifth-placed Kangaroos are moving towards a new agreement with the AFL and the ACT Government to continue their move into the Canberra market.

But Foxtel AFL commentator and two-time Kangaroos premiership captain Carey could not make it to Canberra on Tuesday because of illness, although club chief executive Geoff Walsh said Carey would be involved in the marketing of the June 5 match.

"It would have been nice, with Wayne's obvious association with us, for him to attend," Walsh told AAP.

"I understand he will be doing some sort of promotional work in Canberra leading up to the game," added Walsh, who also missed the press conference because of a Melbourne flight delay.

An AFL spokeswoman said from Canberra: "He (Carey) hasn't left Perth from the weekend. He has a really bad head cold and if he was here he probably wouldn't be able to speak anyway."

Carey, who is an assistant coach with Carlton, has already taken a big step towards winning back Kangaroos fans and was given a standing ovation by many of the 3500 guests who attended a gala dinner to celebrate the club's 80 years in the VFL/AFL competition in March.

The retired champion forward and Wagga Wagga product had been in exile from the Kangaroos since he walked out after his affair with the wife of teammate Anthony Stevens went public three years ago.

The Kangaroos have played 13 AFL home games at Manuka Oval, including three in 2004: round two v Sydney, round 11 v Melbourne and round 18 v Port Adelaide.

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