Sarah Abo may be preparing to close her chapter at Today, but her latest outing has offered an unexpectedly warm glimpse into the person who will now help carry the show forward.

Just days after Nine confirmed that Tom Steinfort and Sylvia Jeffreys would take over the Today hosting roles for 2027, Sarah was spotted spending time with Tom during a day out at the 2026 AFL Grand Final.

The former co-hosts appeared relaxed and in good spirits as they joined a group of Nine personalities, including Clint Stanaway, Maggie Raworth, Alicia Loxley and Sarah’s husband, Cyrus Moran.

But the timing of the meeting was impossible to ignore.

Sarah is leaving the program.

Tom is stepping into one of its biggest roles.

And for a brief moment, two very different chapters of Today were sitting side by side.

A meeting that came at a striking time

The gathering took place around the AFL Grand Final weekend, only shortly after Nine announced its new Today line-up.

On September 17, Nine officially named Sylvia Jeffreys and Tom Steinfort as the program’s new co-hosts for 2027. The network described the appointments as the beginning of a “new era” for the breakfast show.

Sarah, meanwhile, had announced the day before that she would leave both Today and Nine at the end of 2026.

She had been away on maternity leave after welcoming her first child, son Sonny, with husband Cyrus Moran in July.

So when she appeared alongside Tom, the image carried an obvious significance even without either of them addressing the situation publicly.

Sarah and Tom appeared closer than the circumstances might suggest

There was no visible awkwardness between them in the photographs from the outing.

Instead, Sarah and Tom appeared comfortable among their Nine colleagues, enjoying the Grand Final atmosphere alongside their friends and family.

That does not necessarily prove anything about their private feelings, but it certainly offered no public sign of tension.

And given the scale of the changes at Today, the moment was bound to attract attention.

Sarah spent years working alongside the show’s rotating cast and crew.

Tom has now been handed one of the positions that will define its next chapter.

Their meeting therefore looked less like a dramatic handover and more like a quiet moment between colleagues who have worked together for years.

Tom has been part of Sarah’s Nine story for years

The connection between the pair goes back well beyond this year’s reshuffle.

Tom joined Nine almost two decades ago and has worked across major news and current-affairs roles, including Nine News and 60 Minutes. Nine says the new hosting duo bring a combined four decades of journalism and television experience to Today.

Sarah joined Nine’s Today presenting team permanently in January 2023.

That means her professional overlap with Tom stretches across several years — long before either knew they would eventually be connected by such a major change at the breakfast program.

Now one of them is leaving.

The other is taking the chair.

Sarah’s exit was announced after months of uncertainty

Sarah’s future had been the subject of speculation for months, particularly following Karl Stefanovic’s departure from Nine in June.

But Sarah ultimately made the decision public herself.

In Nine’s official statement on September 16, she said she would conclude her time as Today co-host and leave the network at the end of the year to pursue other opportunities.

Her statement was notably personal.

She thanked viewers for allowing her into their homes each morning and reflected on her years reporting with both Today and 60 Minutes.

Then she addressed the biggest change in her private life.

“Becoming a mum has heralded a new chapter,” she said.

Sarah also thanked the Today team, describing the wider crew, producers and fellow hosts as people who felt like family.

There was no public criticism of the program or the network in her statement.

Instead, she focused on gratitude and what comes next.

A new mother at the centre of a huge career change

Sarah and Cyrus welcomed their first child, Sonny, in July.

The baby arrived earlier than expected, and Sarah subsequently shared photographs of the newborn, thanking the doctors and midwives who had cared for them during their hospital stay.

Her departure from Today therefore comes during a particularly significant period of personal change.

She is no longer simply deciding what her next television role might be.

She is also navigating life as a first-time mother.

That is why her decision not to return after maternity leave has been watched so closely.

Tom is stepping into a very different moment

For Tom, meanwhile, the appointment comes at a time when his own family life is changing too.

In September, he announced on Today that his wife, Claudia Jukic, is expecting their third child.

The couple already have two daughters, Frederikke and Lotte, and have said they are not finding out the sex of the baby before the birth.

It means Tom is beginning his new role while preparing to become a father of three.

And his new co-host Sylvia Jeffreys is also pregnant with her third child.

The next chapter of Today will therefore begin with an unusually strong family theme surrounding its new presenters.

The timing could hardly be more symbolic

There is something almost cinematic about the circumstances.

Sarah has just become a mother and is stepping away from the breakfast desk.

Tom is preparing to become a father again while stepping into that same programme.

And at the AFL Grand Final, the two crossed paths just as the transition between their Today eras was becoming official.

Neither needed to make a speech.

A photograph of them together was enough to underline the change.

Nine says the new era will look different

Nine has not presented the new hosting arrangement simply as a like-for-like replacement.

Its official announcement said Today would enter a new era, with changes to the show’s format, pace and commercial integrations to be unveiled as part of the 2027 programming strategy.

Tom and Sylvia are expected to carry the program forward from the new season.

Tom described the opportunity as a privilege and said he was excited to begin the role alongside Sylvia.

Sylvia, meanwhile, acknowledged that there were “mixed feelings” surrounding the change, while promising that she and Tom would work hard to continue the legacy of the people who came before them.

That acknowledgement is particularly interesting given how many familiar faces have departed the show during 2026.

Sarah’s future remains deliberately open

Sarah did not announce a specific new role when confirming her exit.

Instead, Nine said she would depart the network to pursue “other opportunities available to her.”

In her own social-media message, she also hinted that there was “more to come.”

So while her Today chapter is ending, there has been no indication that she intends to disappear from Australian television altogether.

For now, however, her priority appears to be a very different kind of first.

Motherhood.

And then there is the question of what this meeting really meant

It would be easy to describe Sarah’s meeting with Tom as a simple social outing.

That may be exactly what it was.

But its timing gives the photograph an extra layer.

Only days earlier, Tom had been confirmed as one of the people taking over the breakfast show Sarah is leaving.

Now they were together, smiling and appearing completely at ease.

Perhaps Sarah was simply catching up with a colleague.

Perhaps it was congratulations.

Perhaps, as the original report speculated, there may have even been a few words of advice for the person preparing to step into her old role.

There is no public evidence to establish which of those possibilities is true.

And perhaps that is what makes the moment so interesting.

A baton passed without a formal farewell

Sarah never returned to the desk for a traditional farewell following the birth of Sonny.

Her exit was instead announced while she was away on maternity leave, bringing an unexpectedly quiet ending to a major chapter of her television career.

Now, one of the people who will continue that chapter is already beside her — not under the studio lights, but outside them, at one of Australia’s biggest sporting occasions.

It was not a formal handover.

There was no prepared speech.

Just a photograph and a moment between two journalists whose careers have overlapped for years.

And perhaps that is the most telling part.

Sarah is moving on.

Tom is stepping in.

And whatever happens next for Today, their unexpected meeting suggests that the transition may be far more amicable than the headlines surrounding the show’s upheaval might have suggested. ❤️