Former Australian Football League star Wayne Carey is due in Miami-Dade criminal court at 9 a.m. Tuesday -- to plead no contest to two felony counts of battery on a police officer. The charges stem from his October '07 arrest at the Mandarin Oriental on Brickell Key, where he got into a brawl with Miami cops.

Carey was vacationing here with girlfriend Kate Neilson, a model. They had a spat while dining at Azul in the luxury hotel, and he allegedly smashed her in the mouth with a wine glass.

When officers tried to question Carey in his room, the six-foot-five, 250-pounder pushed, kicked and elbowed the officers, the arrest report says. He faced jail time.

'A lovers' quarrel that elevated into an unfortunate confrontation,'' says Richard Sharpstein, who is defending Carey with Ari Gerstin. ``He's very remorseful.''

Neilson declined to pursue charges for the wine glass incident.

Circuit Judge Rosa Rodriguez is expected to accept the plea agreement. The deal: two years of nonreporting probation, and a withhold of adjudication. He must attend anger management classes and donate $500 to the Dade County Police Benevolent Association Love Fund.

The couple told Australia's 60 Minutes in June that they have a cocaine problem. She went into rehab.

Among Carey's bad-boy antics: an indecent assault arrest for grabbing a woman's breast following a drinking spree, and an affair with his best friend's wife. He eventually left his own wife -- two months after their daughter was born.

In January, Australian authorities subdued Carey with pepper spray after he got physical during an argument with Neilson at his suburban Melbourne apartment.

Carey, 37, and Neilson, 27, are doing better on this U.S. holiday. In Manhattan, they attended a Madonna concert and saw Wicked on Broadway. They are now staying on South Beach. She plans to accompany him to court.

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