AFL gets Kylie, Echuca gets Tones and I, and the NRL gets snubbed

The NRL’s loss is an Echuca pub’s gain with Mornington Peninsula superstar Tones and I announcing a surprise gig in the northern Victorian town days after shunning the NRL grand final.

Just days after Tones and I (aka Toni Watson) gave the NRL the middle finger over its offer for her to perform at its big match this Sunday, she has decided to put on an unscheduled show this weekend.

On Tuesday, the Dance Monkey singer who started her career as a busker in Byron Bay, announced she would play the acoustic pop-up gig at the Echuca Hotel on Friday night. Talk about the hottest ticket in a town of 15,056 people. It’s quite the flex!

She is performing just across the river at the Deni Ute Muster on Saturday night and, of course, she will not be providing the pre-game entertainment at the NRL grand final the following night, having turned down an offer from the league.

It is one of the rare occasions when Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys didn’t get what he wanted.

The grand final kerfuffle came after the singer, according to her management, turned down the NRL offer because of the timeline required to get to a prior commitment in the US.

However, other reports said Tones’ team and the NRL could not come to an agreement over what songs she would perform at the game – specifically her massive hit Dance Monkey.

The song, which she performed at the AFL grand final in 2019, has had more than 3.5 billion streams on Spotify and 2.3 billion views on YouTube.

V’landys put the failed deal down to “artistic differences”.

“We love Tones and I … But we had artistic differences, and those artistic differences couldn’t be resolved,” he told the Today show last week.

He added: “People come to our game for our game – for the entertainment of rugby league – not for 11 minutes of pop concert. If you want to go to a pop concert, then you buy a ticket to go to a pop concert.”

Maybe tell that to the AFL with the rival code scoring a big win by staging one of the great pre-game shows with pop princess Kylie Minogue putting on an instantly iconic performance at the MCG on Saturday.

Hackett takes a plunge in Brighton

Olympic great turned wealth manager Grant Hackett has offloaded a pricey piece of lawn in leafy Brighton.

Hackett was used to winning during his decorated swimming career, but it seems he may have suffered a rare loss in the real estate game with the vacant block.

Hackett, who heads up Generation Development Group, and his wife, Sharlene, bought the well-positioned property in Mulgoa Street, Brighton for $8.5 million in 2024 with plans to build their dream home.

However, word is the block has changed hands for under $8 million with the sale completed this week.

The property, that was held in Sharlene’s name, was first listed for sale in May with a price range of $8 million to $8.8 million.

That was revised down to $7.25 million to $7.95 million in June, and then revised down further in July to between $7 million and $7.7 million.

Matthew Pillios from Kay & Burton had the listing.

“Opportunities to acquire a vacant landholding in this part of Brighton are few and far between, however properties at this level naturally cater to a highly selective buyer pool,” Pillios told CBD. “Ultimately, the scarcity of the offering helped underpin buyer interest and resulted in a successful sale. It was a good result and the client is happy.”

While the exact sale price is yet to be disclosed, Hackett and his wife have already moved on.

The couple dropped $13,425,000 on a five-bedroom Toorak mansion in June which comes with all the accoutrements that Toorakians love, including a six-car garage, a home cinema, a bespoke wine cellar, a gym and, of course for a former swimming gold medallist, a pool.

CoinSpot founder’s court win

One of Melbourne’s more intriguing people, secretive billionaire Russell Wilson, has quietly won a case against a former employee who it was claimed stole almost $500,000 from his crypto exchange business.

The Age first reported that the founder of CoinSpot earlier this year launched legal action in the County Court of Victoria to retrieve the allegedly misappropriated money.

In documents filed by CoinSpot’s parent company, Casey Block Services, it was claimed customer support team member Iresh Pawan Perera had shifted $478,932 into a personal bank account across 76 transactions in a two-year period.

Perera’s job was terminated on March 9 this year as the alleged “misappropriation conduct” amounted to “material breaches” of his employment agreement.

The matter was finalised earlier this month with the court providing a judgment in default and ordering the “defendant pay the plaintiff $478,932.76 as well as interest and costs. The judgment was obtained in default of the service of the defence.”

CBD reached out to Wilson for comment, with a CoinSpot spokesman saying: “CoinSpot acknowledges the court’s decision and will continue our focus on making crypto simple and accessible for all Australians.”

Based in Berwick in Melbourne’s south-east, Wilson is one of Victoria’s under-the-radar billionaires.

CoinSpot, which was founded in 2013, reported a net profit of $270 million in 2025 and has been described as Australia’s biggest crypto exchange.

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