The revelation on Monday that a male senior AFL staffer had an affair with a younger female colleague has created a significant degree of discomfort at the game's head office.

Coming as it did just days after Gillon McLachlan and his team were forced to put an end to the career of their previously highly regarded diversity manager Ali Fahour, the sense of unease on this occasion is more intense and far more complex.

AFL Logo Credit:Paul Rovere

Fahour's situation, although he didn't immediately see it himself, was clear cut. A man in his position of influence had to go once he had been banned for life from playing the game. Anyone who witnessed the ugly incident saw that well before the tribunal's finding.

But in-house affairs, however flimsy and however short-term, are far murkier. Particularly as the male is married and significantly more senior than the other party. And particularly when they become become in-house common knowledge. More particularly when they become public.