Cate Sayers is seeking court orders compelling the AFL and Carlton to disclose internal communications over the “d*** pic” scandal, setting up a fresh test for how the league investigated and cleared her husband Luke Sayers.
When Cate Sayers asked for the scandal to be heard in open court. she wasn’t just chasing answers about an explicit image that briefly appeared on Luke Sayers’ X account.. She’s now demanding the legal system require the AFL and Carlton to produce the internal emails and messages she believes hold the key to whether the investigation was truly independent.
In the latest turn of the Supreme Court fight. Cate is seeking orders that would compel the AFL and the club to hand over written communications connected to the fallout from the incident.. The request could force senior league officials. Carlton figures and advisers to provide records linked to how the probe was conducted after the image surfaced during a family trip to Italy last January.
The controversy erupted when an explicit image appeared briefly on Luke Sayers’ X account and tagged a female executive tied to major Carlton sponsor Bupa.. The post was removed within minutes, before Sayers publicly claimed his account had been hacked.. Behind closed doors. the scandal unfolded differently—culminating in Luke Sayers’ exit from Carlton and a widening. bitter legal conflict with his estranged wife. who insists she was wrongly blamed for the humiliation.
Cate’s filings say her access to the full record matters because. in her view. the league’s integrity investigation was compromised from the start.. Court documents reveal she is now pursuing communications between AFL executives. Carlton officials and members of Luke Sayers’ inner circle as she tries to test the league’s handling of the matter.
Among those potentially caught up in the proposed orders is AFL corporate affairs boss Sharon McCrohan. previously brought in to help manage the public relations fallout after the post went viral.. Cate is also seeking records from Julie Trainor. a senior executive at Sayers’ consulting firm Tenet Advisory and Investments. with the court asked to compel production tied directly to the scandal.
The subpoenas seek “all written communications” connected to the incident. If recipients fail to comply with any court-issued order, they could face serious legal consequences.
Central to Cate’s case is the claim the AFL did not properly test the evidence. Her legal team alleges investigators never interviewed her, never seized devices for forensic testing, and never properly examined claims surrounding where the image came from.
In the Victorian Supreme Court filings, Cate’s lawyers cite her assertion that the AFL “did not carry out an adequate, independent or impartial investigation.” She also argues the league moved too closely with Luke Sayers and Carlton while publicly clearing him of wrongdoing.
The broader legal dispute is also tied to a separate allegation Cate is pursuing over a statutory declaration lodged by Luke Sayers during the AFL probe. She claims the document contained false and deeply personal assertions about her mental health, medical background and private life.
The AFL, for its part, has defended its conduct throughout the controversy.. AFL spokesman Jay Allen said the league investigated the matter in relation to whether Luke Sayers breached AFL rules as a registered official in his then role as Carlton president.. “The AFL stands by its process and people in relation to this matter,” Allen said.
The next stage is expected to arrive quickly.. The fight is set to intensify again on Monday. when Luke Sayers attempts to move the case into the Family Court. a step Cate says would prevent the matter from being publicly aired.. For now. Cate is pushing to keep the dispute in the Supreme Court. and she wants it heard publicly before a jury—turning the case not only into a fight over what happened after the image appeared. but over who helped shape the story the public was given.
Luke Sayers Cate Sayers AFL Carlton Supreme Court d*** pic scandal Sharon McCrohan Tenet Advisory and Investments Julie Trainor Family Court