If some mystery remains about the turn of events that saw a lewd image posted on the X account of Luke Sayers, there is no question that Sayers has spared several parties further grief by stepping down as president of the Carlton Football Club.
He has spared his family from further trauma. He has spared the Blues from a distraction that might have seeped into the season.
He has spared a female executive whose handle was unfairly inserted into the offending tweet from a deluge of innuendo and more unwanted attention.
Luke Sayers.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
And, most of all, he has spared himself from the not inconsiderable stress of defending his reputation (for the second time, post PwC) and of potentially letting his private life – and his family’s – become public property.
Sayers was always going to be cleared by the AFL investigation, once the league’s integrity unit accepted that the Carlton president was not the author of the social media post that contained an image that would soon be described by a term more typically attached to indiscrete footballers – a dick pic.
Had he clung to the presidency, Sayers would face pressures to outline, in greater detail, an explanation of what exactly had transpired, the provenance of this embarrassing photo, and even why he had declined to bring this matter to the police if his account had been “hacked” as he first asserted in a tweet after the incident.
The AFL in a statement on Wednesday said his account was “compromised”.
Sayers is a former PwC chief executive.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
He would have likely faced questions at the club’s annual general meeting on February 19. Carlton did not deserve to deal with this situation – no matter how it originated – in what could only provide a distraction on the eve of a season in which the Blues have serious premiership aspirations.
In his resignation statement, which followed on the heels of the AFL clearing him of any breach of rules (bringing the game into disrepute is the catch-all for players in these social media snafus), Sayers sought to dispel any suggestion that he had been in a relationship with the executive, whose company happens to be the shorts sponsor at Carlton.
He also was adamant he did not post the image, even accidentally. When the story went viral, many observers assumed this was yet another own goal – the private direct message that mistakenly was posted.
“I did not post the image, either deliberately or accidentally,” Sayers said.
“I fully cooperated with an independent inquiry by the AFL which concluded that access to my X account was compromised.
“I am aware of speculation that the naming of another person in the post explains why it happened. It does not, and that narrative is wrong. I am so sorry for the hurt that has caused.”
Sayers, of course, had remained as Carlton president despite questions – and a grilling at the Senate hearing over his stewardship of PwC during a tax scandal (no finding was made against him). Some critics would contend that he ought to have stepped down from Carlton then. The Blues’ board, though, did not consider PWC to be disqualifying.
But this downmarket scandal – closer to post-season player antics than a president’s – was not one that could be assigned to other parties.
So, it was salacious corporeal material, rather than suited corporate failings, that ended the tenure of Sayers, who, in any case, was only going to stay at the helm of Carlton, an unpaid gig, for the remainder of 2025.
Carlton staffers only learned of his resignation on Wednesday, although they cannot have been surprised, given the sand trap that Sayers had found himself in.
Sayers with coach Michael Voss and CEO Brian Cook.Credit: Carlton Football Club
He made the most honourable decision, and the pragmatic one.
His legacy as president is superior to the nine years he spent on a club board that did not deliver prosperity or stability. It was in Sayers’ term as president, from 2021, that the Blues began to finally emerge from those decades of staggering failure – born of hubris, then division – and to reassert themselves as a competition colossus.
As president-designate, Sayers presided over the review that removed David Teague as senior coach and Cain Liddle as chief executive. He had Ross Lyon in the van as coach before sections of his board backpedalled, leading to the subsequent appointment of Michael Voss. He hired Brian Cook as CEO and, in a bold move, Graham Wright as Cook’s successor.
Sayers’ most notable positive, though, was his decision – in concert with Cook and his board – to guarantee Voss’ position during a horror stretch of 2023. Plenty of Carlton insiders say that this decision averted what would have been tantamount to a run on the bank, within the club and the playing group.
The Carlton he bequeaths, most likely to his vice president (and interim co-president) Rob Priestley, is an improvement on the version that he inherited. Not many Carlton leaders of the past two decades can make that claim.
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