[3] He was the captain of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in 2010, but when they joined the Australian Football League in 2012, he was left out of the squad and returned to his home state of South Australia, where he began to play domestic cricket.

He continued to advance in 2009 and played for South Australia in the 2009 AFL Under 18 Championships[5] in addition to winning the SANFL reserves premiership with Glenelg.

[6] Carey turned down a rookie contract offer from the South Australian Cricket Association and moved to Sydney in 2010 to join the Australian Football League's (AFL) new expansion club, the Greater Western Sydney Giants,[6] who were playing in the TAC Cup for the season to prepare for their entry into the AFL in 2012.

[4][6][7] He played for them again in 2011 in the North East Australian Football League, but he wasn't given a place in their inaugural AFL squad for the 2012 season and returned to Adelaide.

[14] Carey started the 2017–18 season playing in the JLT Cup for South Australia, coming close to a maiden century when he scored 92 against Victoria in the elimination final as part of South Australia's fourth-biggest one-day partnership of all time, putting on 212 runs with Jake Weatherald.

Though he had only played 18 first-class matches prior to the start of the season, Carey was considered the best young wicket-keeper in Australia.

[19] Despite his failure to make it into the national team, Carey scored his maiden first-class century when he made 139 for South Australia against Queensland.

[22] During the 2023–24 Marsh One-Day Cup, Carey equalled the record for the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in a List A match, taking eight catches against Queensland.

[23] Carey's 2017–18 Big Bash League season form saw him make his One Day International (ODI) debut for Australia, replacing an ill Tim Paine on 19 January 2018.

[31][32] Following the World Cup, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named Carey as the rising star of the squad.

[34] On 16 July 2020, Carey was named in a 26-man preliminary squad of players to begin training ahead of a possible tour to England following the COVID-19 pandemic.

[35][36] On 14 August 2020, Cricket Australia confirmed that the fixtures would be taking place, with Carey included in the touring party.

[48] In the first innings of the second test, Carey scored 93 off of 159 balls, before being bowled by Pakistani captain, Babar Azam.

[51] Carey finished the test series with 179 runs from 3 innings, with a high score of 93 and an average of 59.66, which was the second highest on the Australian side.

[54] In June 2023, Carey played in the World Test Championship Final, contributing 48 runs in the first innings and a vital 66* in the second.

[57] The stumping received mixed reactions, with praise coming from former England captains Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Eoin Morgan and Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin.

In March 2024, during the second test against New Zealand, Carey equalled Adam Gilchrist's record for the most catches in a match by an Australian wicket-keeper with 10.