The AFL has declared itself ‘incredibly relaxed’ about the explosive court battle between former Carlton president Luke Sayers and his estranged wife Cate Sayers, despite senior league figures being dragged into the legal fight.
Cate Sayers is suing her husband in the Victorian Supreme Court, alleging he defamed her in a statutory declaration provided to AFL investigators after a photo of his penis was posted to his X account during a family holiday in Italy in January last year.
The case has intensified in recent weeks after subpoenas were issued seeking internal AFL and Carlton communications relating to the scandal and its aftermath.
Among those subpoenaed are AFL executive general manager of corporate affairs Sharon McCrohan, who previously worked as a crisis manager for Sayers during the fallout from the incident, and Julie Trainor, an executive at Sayers’ advisory business.
The AFL, however, insists it has nothing to fear from the court process.
‘Officially the league’s saying tonight they couldn’t be any more relaxed on the matter,’ Channel 7 chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary said on The Agenda Setters.
Former Carlton president Luke Sayers remains embroiled in a Supreme Court battle with estranged wife Cate Sayers
The AFL has outlined its position after being drawn into the ongoing Luke Sayers litigation
‘They say this is simply a matter between Cate and Luke Sayers because they feel at the time when they dealt with this from an integrity unit perspective, they dealt with the facts that were in front of them.
‘So the AFL tonight are incredibly relaxed from their point of view.
‘They’re saying that if anyone has lied in a (statutory declaration) that is on them, the AFL was simply acting with what they had in front of them at the time.’
The comments came after Supreme Court Justice Andrew Watson rejected an attempt by Luke Sayers to move the proceedings into the Federal Circuit and Family Court, where strict reporting restrictions would have limited public scrutiny of the dispute.
Justice Watson ruled the Supreme Court was the appropriate venue to hear the defamation claim and noted the court’s long history of dealing with such matters.
‘This court has a long history of trying defamation proceedings,’ he wrote.
‘There is no doubt that judges of the Family Court would have the requisite skills and experience to decide a defamation matter in that court but there are, in my view, features of this case which mean that it is not more appropriate to transfer this proceeding to that jurisdiction.’
The judge also dismissed Cate Sayers’ application for a jury trial, meaning the matter is expected to proceed before a judge alone.
Court documents reveal efforts to obtain internal AFL and Carlton records linked to the controversy
Luke Sayers resigned as Carlton president shortly after the explicit image appeared on his X account
Cate Sayers alleges her husband falsely blamed her for accessing his X account and posting the explicit image, damaging her reputation in the process.
Court documents filed by her legal team claim the statutory declaration portrayed her as ‘unstable, untrustworthy, erratic, mentally disturbed’ and included allegations about her mental health, which she says are false.
The dispute has already produced a series of explosive text messages between the couple.
After Luke Sayers publicly maintained that his account had been hacked, Cate sent him a message stating: ‘The world thinks I posted it. Thanks.
‘You saved yourself and again dumped me right in it as the person who accessed your account. Read the media narrative.’
Sayers replied: ‘Cate that is not true.
‘Nobody I know thinks you had anything to do with it. I was hacked.’
The former PwC chief executive resigned as Carlton president days after the scandal erupted in January 2025.
An AFL integrity investigation later concluded that, based on the available evidence, access to his account had been compromised and cleared him of breaching league rules.
The latest court battle is expected to focus heavily on what information was provided to AFL investigators, how the league handled the matter and whether statements made during the investigation damaged Cate Sayers’ reputation.
A directions hearing is expected in coming weeks, with a trial potentially taking place later this year.
