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The AFL has refused to buy into the acrimonious legal dispute between ex-Carlton president and PwC boss Luke Sayers and his estranged wife Cate despite threats that the league will be dragged into the affair.
The league’s statement to this masthead on Thursday comes days after News Corp reported that Cate Sayers would subpoena correspondence between top AFL figures and members of Luke Sayers’ camp during the league’s investigation into the publication of a lewd image to the former Blues president’s X account in January last year.
Luke and Cate Sayers at Derby Day in Melbourne in 2024, months before the lewd photo scandal erupted.Penny Stephens
Cate Sayers has launched legal action against her estranged husband in the Victorian Supreme Court, suing the high-profile business figure for defamation and breach of confidence.
She has alleged that in his account of the incident given to the AFL’s integrity unit during its investigation, her husband defamed her and breached her confidence by disclosing information about her private life, including her sexual history and medical information.
The league’s investigation found that Sayers account had been “compromised” and he was not responsible for posting the image. It found he had not breached AFL rules, but he resigned as Carlton president within a fortnight.
“Across January 2025, the AFL investigated the matter to understand if Mr Sayers had breached AFL rules as a registered official, in his then role as Carlton president,” AFL spokesman Jay Allen said in a statement on Thursday.
Luke Sayers was cleared by an AFL investigation led by the league’s integrity unit.Elke Meitzel
“The AFL’s jurisdiction is confined to registered officials and the potential breach of any AFL rules.
“The AFL stands by its process in relation to this matter.
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“Mr Sayers is no longer a registered AFL official this matter between Mr and Mrs Sayers is currently before the courts.”
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon recently defended the integrity of his new corporate communications boss, Sharon McCrohan, who was an adviser to Luke Sayers during the lewd picture scandal.
The well-connected McCrohan was Sayers’ spin doctor last year amid the lewd photo scandal, advising him when he was investigated by the AFL integrity unit after an explicit image of a penis appeared on his X account last year, tagging an executive at health insurance giant Bupa.
The post was removed about 15 minutes later, with Sayers claiming he had been hacked. He later said the photo had been taken for medical purposes.
The AFL cleared Sayers and closed the investigation after he provided a statutory declaration to the league.
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Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners