Kangaroos captain Anthony Stevens revealed it was a "waste of time" for him to play early in the AFL game against Wayne Carey's Adelaide a fortnight ago.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the round six "grudge match", the Kangaroos captain said his mind was elsewhere when Carey lined up against the club he quit in disgrace after he had an affair with Stevens' wife.

"It was probably a waste of time me being on the footy ground the first quarter, but I'm over with it now," Stevens said.

"I'm going into the future now, so I don't really want to go back in the past now, I just look forward to the future and hopefully we'll go all right."

Stevens said he felt an enormous release of pressure.

"Leading into the Adelaide game, driving to the ground it was funny the way I was thinking," he said.

"I didn't know what to expect or anything like that, and then going to the Hawthorn game (the following week) it felt the whole world was off my shoulders.

"We just went out there and really enjoyed the (Hawthorn) game and that's the way I want to take the rest of my football career and the rest of this year - just going out and enjoying it.

"These things, they're past now and I can just go out and have fun and enjoy football - as a kid that's all you want to do - just enjoy footy and that's what I want to do from now until I retire."

Stevens will achieve AFL life membership when he plays his 300th game at all levels, against Sydney in Canberra.

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