How many fire fronts can the Andrew Dillon-led AFL fight?

This week, the footy boss, along with his head firefighter, Sharon McCrohan, and chief legal mind Stephen Meade are managing the fallout of sexual assault allegations involving the Sydney Swans.

The Swans sit close to the top of the ladder, so if the players who have reportedly been spoken to, including superstar Isaac Heeney, are stood aside pending investigations, the footy finals will be compromised.

Also under way is the AFL’s investigation of the handling of the Geelong concussion waiver crisis. That’s now in the hands of independent arbiter Peter James, KC, who has been engaged by the AFL to opine on the matter.

His probe will include the conduct of AFL chair Craig Drummond, who was heading up the Cats board at the time defender Jake Kolodjashnij signed to release his club from any legal risk over future concussions.

CBD can now reveal the AFL’s 2026 finals series, which begins at the end of this month, is set to be further tainted by what is expected to be another messy legal battle.

This time it will be in the Victorian Supreme Court from September 4 as former Carlton chair Luke Sayers battles his ex-wife, Cate, who has sued him for defamation following publication of a photograph of Sayers’ penis on his X account in January last year.

The businessman wants to keep material relating to the league’s investigation into the scandal secret. The battle over what material can be subject to legal privilege is set to take place over two days. We can hardly wait.

**Szubanski, Irwin and TV’s best-kept secret **

The triumphant Logie Awards appearance of one of Australia’s most beloved personalities, Magda Szubanski, after battling cancer was TV’s most closely guarded secret.

Only a handful of people knew of Szubanski’s involvement in Sunday’s telecast, where she presented the Gold Logie in character as Sharon Strzelecki.

In keeping with the “stealth mode” approach, on call sheets and whiteboards she was noted only as “special guest”.

Meanwhile, CBD has been told, those in the deep inner circle of the production referred to her by the code name “Toiger” – the famously mangled Kath & Kim pronunciation of “Tiger”.

Szubanski didn’t take part in the show’s rehearsal on Saturday and nor did she stay at the hotel where special guests of TV Week were residing.

She arrived backstage at The Star in Sydney, entering discreetly via the loading dock, 20 minutes before joining Logie’s host Robert Irwin on stage about 11.15pm for what was her first public event since she revealed her health crisis in May 2025.

When she emerged dressed as Strzelecki, “the newest employee at Australia Zoo”, it was a genuine shock and emotional surprise for guests in the room and viewers.

Szubanski did not linger after presenting Sam Pang with the top award, heading back to her hotel almost immediately. In total, she was at the Logies for less than an hour.

Szubanski agreed about a month before the show to present the award after being asked by Irwin.

The celebrated actor has kept a low profile in Melbourne while undergoing treatment for stage-four mantle cell lymphoma – a rare and fast-moving blood cancer.

She revealed in late February she had completed chemotherapy and had moved into the “maintenance” phase of her recovery.

During her cancer fight, Szubanski completed her second memoir, I Can’t Tell You, But I Will. She is now preparing for two In Conversation events – at the Melbourne Town Hall on September 29 and the Sydney Opera House on October 4 – to support the book’s launch.

**Good Shout goes quiet **

Newish premier Ben Carroll is getting very active on social media in his elevated role, shaping himself as a decision maker who is getting Victoria back on track.

While he’s making noise on his social media accounts, CBD has noticed one government account has gone very quiet.

The bizarre Good Shout Vic Instagram and Facebook pages that from the get-go just seemed like a government brain fart, have had the brakes applied since Carroll deposed Jacinta Allan.

Good Shout Vic was a strange social media dabble that presented government ministers – specifically Allan, Steve Dimopoulos, Paul Edbrooke, Michaela Settle and Harriet Shing – in clips that were meant to look like they were taken from podcast interviews. But they weren’t.

They were nothing more than press announcements in poor disguise. A running joke in Labor circles was who was the “mystery” podcaster asking the questions.

The pages attracted a tiny following and, to be frank, the comments, some of which seem to have disappeared, on the Insta posts were more entertaining than the content.

Since July 27, the day Allan stepped down, the page has been dormant. CBD reached out to the government to get some explanation of the account – we are still waiting to hear back.

The last Good Shout Vic reel was of Allan talking passionately about why the right to work from home needed to be protected by law.

How quickly times change. Last Tuesday, Carroll pushed the work-from-home legislation back 12 months as part of his government’s “reset with the business community”.