How Luke Sayers’ personal humiliation became a disastrous own goal for the AFL

April 4, 2026 — 5:00am

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AFL club presidents might still get away with things that footballers never would but even these non-paid so-called scions of society are now subjected to a higher set of standards in a world where Luke Sayers’ predecessor, John Elliott, would not have lasted a season.

When Sayers took over the Carlton presidency in 2021 he was still being forced to deal with the cultural damage and collateral schisms which had festered for two decades since Elliott was forced out after his club’s systematic salary cap cheating was exposed.

Elliott, who died in 2021, had his name stripped from a stand and was later banned by the Blues after alleging the club had paid hush money during his time to women who claimed they had been sexually assaulted by Carlton footballers. But even before all of that, Elliott was making highly offensive comments to women at AFL functions and on one occasion touched up the wife of another club’s chief executive, as I reported at the time. Even after that incident was exposed, there were raised eyebrows but little else.

Still, the now departed Jack, who for years also thought he was bigger than the smoking bans across football venues, was an outlier among his brethren – and it was very much a brethren back then.

It would be nice to say the same about Allan McAlister, the former Collingwood president who said shortly after the famous Nicky Winmar stand against racial vilification that the Magpies did not have an issue with Indigenous Australians “as long as they conduct themselves like white people...”

“Conduct unbecoming” was not a thing back in 1993, but nor was another Collingwood president in Eddie McGuire sanctioned 20 years later when he made his infamous King Kong comment relating to Adam Goodes.

Even though the Collingwood board and his various media outlets took no action, McGuire did apologise and underwent a racial education process through the AFL. Which is more than can be said of then Hawthorn........

© The Age