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Once Mick Warner is involved, then the AFL have lost the narrative they are so desperate to control. The Accounts Dept at AFL house need to make a special provision on the books for paying out Ms Sayers a handsome sum for her silence and to stop her case.
We all want it to get to court to expose the old boys club for what it is, and to see Luke Sayers get his comeuppance.
Michael Warner
Follow
May 21, 2026 - 5:00AM
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...ory/312a925a10ec4d08755542d3f4d24be3#comments
AFL executives don’t do courtroom appearances.
It’s why they dropped their pursuit of Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid like a hot potatowhen he launched Supreme Court proceedings against them during the 2013 drugs debacle.
It’s why Dean “The Weapon” Robinson was never charged by the league or ASADA over the Bombers investigation - and walked away instead with a $1 million payout - after his lawyers issued subpoenas against Andrew Demetriou, Gillon McLachlan, David Evans and spin doctor Elizabeth Lukin.
It’s why former Melbourne president Glen Bartlett banked a boatload of cash just weeks after joining AFL chiefs to his explosive Federal Court defamation action against a group of muddling Demons directors.
https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/t...l/news-story/48304e05dfdfe38debadc5c55ae785ac
Cate and Luke Sayers’ legal battle could have major implications for the AFL. Picture: Supplied
And it’s why everyone with even a skerrick of interest in seeing the AFL held to account after decades of blatantly compromised integrity investigations should be hoping the bombshell Cate Sayers v Luke Sayers defamation case plays out in open court before a Supreme Court judge and jury.
The last time a Master of the AFL Universe was forced to give evidence under oath was when Demetriou was hauled before a public inquiry probing Crown casino’s fitness to hold a NSW gaming licence.
Demetriou’s trainwreck testimony (as an independent director of Crown Resorts) all but ended his corporate career after he was caught red-handed reading from notes about a definition of “culture” he admitted he had downloaded off the internet.
His cheat sheet also contained points on the role of an independent director, something he clearly couldn’t remember without prompting.
Patricia Bergin, a former Supreme Court judge appointed to preside over the inquiry, dedicated 19 pages of her scathing 750-page report into Crown’s culture and governance failings to the ex-AFL CEO and his “quite bizarre” and “unedifying performance” in the witness box.
There’s a reason the AFL doesn’t go to trial. Picture: John Feder/The Australian
It said everything about the power of the AFL that it took a regulator from beyond the sycophantic Melbourne bubble to call out such brazen behaviour.
You can only laugh each time Demetriou is wheeled out as an authoritative voice in the football media, as though he still has an ounce of credibility.
And it’s why Cate Sayers got it right by turning to a high-powered Sydney-based legal team to lead her bid to expose allegations of collusion between Mr Sayers’ camp, the AFL and Carlton in clearing the former Blues president of any wrongdoing in the now infamous “dick pic” scandal.
Mr Sayers has already suffered a reputational hammering.
In continuing to fight his estranged wife’s legal action, perhaps the former PwC chief executive doesn’t believe the public humiliation can get much worse.
But in Sayers v Sayers it is the AFL integrity unit and the inner workings of the league’s legendary crisis management methods that will really be on trial.
'Sycophantic Melbourne bubble': No shock Cate Sayers has a Sydney-based legal team
Mick Warner and Seb Costello...
more
New AFL commission chairman Craig Drummond boldly declared this month that he was yet to see anything that gave him “cause for concern” relating to the league’s investigation.
He might not have long to wait.
Subpoenas against key AFL and Carlton figures and members of Mr Sayers inner circle were lodged last week, ordering them to hand over all documents and communications relating to the speedily resolved January 2025 probe.
Their contents, should Supreme Court Justice Andrew Watson block Mr Sayers’ attempts to have the dispute shifted to the Federal Circuit and Family Court (where public reporting will be restricted), might finally expose the truth about the way in which Australia’s most ruthless and unaccountable sporting body manipulates investigations to protect its brand and its own.
We all want it to get to court to expose the old boys club for what it is, and to see Luke Sayers get his comeuppance.
The AFL will be the ones really on trial if the bombshell Sayers v Sayers defamation case plays out in open court
Anyone with even a skerrick of interest in seeing the AFL held to account should be hoping the bombshell Cate Sayers v Luke Sayers defamation case plays out in open court.Michael Warner
Follow
May 21, 2026 - 5:00AM
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/...ory/312a925a10ec4d08755542d3f4d24be3#comments
AFL executives don’t do courtroom appearances.
It’s why they dropped their pursuit of Essendon club doctor Bruce Reid like a hot potatowhen he launched Supreme Court proceedings against them during the 2013 drugs debacle.
It’s why Dean “The Weapon” Robinson was never charged by the league or ASADA over the Bombers investigation - and walked away instead with a $1 million payout - after his lawyers issued subpoenas against Andrew Demetriou, Gillon McLachlan, David Evans and spin doctor Elizabeth Lukin.
It’s why former Melbourne president Glen Bartlett banked a boatload of cash just weeks after joining AFL chiefs to his explosive Federal Court defamation action against a group of muddling Demons directors.
https://www.codesports.com.au/afl/t...l/news-story/48304e05dfdfe38debadc5c55ae785ac
Cate and Luke Sayers’ legal battle could have major implications for the AFL. Picture: Supplied
And it’s why everyone with even a skerrick of interest in seeing the AFL held to account after decades of blatantly compromised integrity investigations should be hoping the bombshell Cate Sayers v Luke Sayers defamation case plays out in open court before a Supreme Court judge and jury.
The last time a Master of the AFL Universe was forced to give evidence under oath was when Demetriou was hauled before a public inquiry probing Crown casino’s fitness to hold a NSW gaming licence.
Demetriou’s trainwreck testimony (as an independent director of Crown Resorts) all but ended his corporate career after he was caught red-handed reading from notes about a definition of “culture” he admitted he had downloaded off the internet.
His cheat sheet also contained points on the role of an independent director, something he clearly couldn’t remember without prompting.
Patricia Bergin, a former Supreme Court judge appointed to preside over the inquiry, dedicated 19 pages of her scathing 750-page report into Crown’s culture and governance failings to the ex-AFL CEO and his “quite bizarre” and “unedifying performance” in the witness box.
There’s a reason the AFL doesn’t go to trial. Picture: John Feder/The Australian
It said everything about the power of the AFL that it took a regulator from beyond the sycophantic Melbourne bubble to call out such brazen behaviour.
You can only laugh each time Demetriou is wheeled out as an authoritative voice in the football media, as though he still has an ounce of credibility.
And it’s why Cate Sayers got it right by turning to a high-powered Sydney-based legal team to lead her bid to expose allegations of collusion between Mr Sayers’ camp, the AFL and Carlton in clearing the former Blues president of any wrongdoing in the now infamous “dick pic” scandal.
Mr Sayers has already suffered a reputational hammering.
In continuing to fight his estranged wife’s legal action, perhaps the former PwC chief executive doesn’t believe the public humiliation can get much worse.
But in Sayers v Sayers it is the AFL integrity unit and the inner workings of the league’s legendary crisis management methods that will really be on trial.
'Sycophantic Melbourne bubble': No shock Cate Sayers has a Sydney-based legal team
Mick Warner and Seb Costello...
more
New AFL commission chairman Craig Drummond boldly declared this month that he was yet to see anything that gave him “cause for concern” relating to the league’s investigation.
He might not have long to wait.
Subpoenas against key AFL and Carlton figures and members of Mr Sayers inner circle were lodged last week, ordering them to hand over all documents and communications relating to the speedily resolved January 2025 probe.
Their contents, should Supreme Court Justice Andrew Watson block Mr Sayers’ attempts to have the dispute shifted to the Federal Circuit and Family Court (where public reporting will be restricted), might finally expose the truth about the way in which Australia’s most ruthless and unaccountable sporting body manipulates investigations to protect its brand and its own.
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