Updated ,first published
The five players suspended by Sydney for the rest of the season for breaching the AFL club’s behavioural standards have apologised to “everyone involved”.
The Swans released a statement on behalf of Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice on Wednesday evening.
“We are deeply sorry to everyone involved. We know that our behaviour has fallen well short of the standards expected of us and the values of our club,” the statement read.
“We know we have let down our partners and families, members, supporters, teammates, the AFLW team, corporate partners and everyone at the club and the wider community.
“We accept the club sanction and apologise for the impact this has had on those involved.
“Our focus will now be on rebuilding trust with the club and the community.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham also apologised for the players’ behaviour.
The five suspended players have also been ruled ineligible for AFL All-Australian honours, the league confirmed in a statement on Wednesday.
Both the Swans and the AFL stressed the penalties were reached independently of the Victoria Police investigation into an alleged sexual assault of a woman at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel on Monday morning and are in relation to separate conduct.
Pridham, whose board met on Tuesday night to decide on the sanctions, said the Swans’ preparedness to “torpedo” their premiership bid reflected how serious they were viewing the matter.
While some of the five players were surprised by the season-long bans, none has pushed back against the tough sanctions, according to a source familiar with the players’ position, speaking anonymously.
The Swans stressed the bans have no connection to the investigation by Victoria Police’s sexual crimes squad.
Appearing alongside club chief Matthew Pavlich at a 19-minute press conference on Wednesday, Pridham could not guarantee the quintet would play again for the Swans and defended coach Dean Cox, saying he had not done anything wrong heading out late with club staff on Sunday night.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the scandal engulfed the Swans, Pridham said the club was “deeply ashamed” by the actions of the five players.
“At the outset, I want to offer an apology, sincere apology, to the community, to our many, many fans, to our corporate partners who’ve been amazingly supportive of us, understanding that we are attempting to deal with this matter as quickly as we can, as honestly as we can, given the constraints of the police inquiry, and to very much be transparent in our dealings with the media,” Pridham said.
“Our thoughts go out to everybody who’s been impacted by these events, and we know it’s impacted many, many people, ranging from the partners of our staff, our players, our women’s program, our men’s program.
“There’s deep disappointment within the club at what has occurred, and we know that many people are hurting, and we are providing support to our players, to their partners, to as many people we can, to our fans and members.”
Of the five suspended players, Heeney, Warner and Blakey were strong contenders to be picked in this season’s All-Australian team.
“Following the decision and appropriate club sanction imposed by the Sydney Swans today in relation to five of their players, the AFL has determined those players will not be considered for the selection in the 2026 All Australian squad,” the AFL said in a statement.
The squad will be named on Monday and the team will be announced on August 25 at an event in Melbourne.
The Swans were in ongoing negotiations with the AFL over the suspensions, according to a source with knowledge of the situation who was not authorised to speak publicly. They were aligned that the matter was serious. The AFL Players Association has been kept informed.
The Swans said in a statement on Wednesday that the AFL was supportive of the club’s sanctions.
By banning three of their best players for the rest of the season, the Swans have significantly dented their chances of winning their first flag in 14 years, but Pridham said the on-field implications were not a consideration for the board. Pavlich, Cox and football boss Leon Cameron also had input into the ban.
“I think the fact that we’ve got to the place where we are today, and we’ve effectively suspended the players for the balance of season when we’re heading into a final series just tells you how seriously we’ve taken it.
“Clearly, something has gone wrong,” Pridham said. “They shouldn’t have been in that situation of being out that late. And the only way we can deal with it is to put our foot down incredibly hard, which we’ve done.
“I think a very important point to make is that we, as a football club, that is our business, and to effectively torpedo our season by making a decision such as this just tells you how seriously we are taking it.”
Asked if the five would play again for the club, Pridham said: “We just have to wait and see what happens going forward.”
This masthead has contacted the representatives of Heeney, Bice, Jordon and Warner.
This masthead also contacted a representative of Blakey, who stated Blakey was not involved in any incident. They confirmed Blakey had remained in Melbourne on Monday to travel back to Sydney by car later with his four teammates.
The players learnt of their penalties from Pavlich on Wednesday morning.
“They’re incredibly disappointed in their actions,” Pavlich said. “They know they’ve let a lot of people down. They know they’ve impacted the women involved. They are remorseful about the hours of Monday morning, and we’ll get them back to the club and around their teammates and the staff at the right time.”
Pavlich said the Swans had offered their support to the women but would not reach out to them out of respect for the police investigation.
“We’re deeply concerned about their welfare and the wellbeing of those women,” Pavlich said.
“They’re the ones who are impacted severely at the moment, and we are here to acknowledge those allegations.”
Swans hall of fame member Jude Bolton voiced his support for the woman and for the player bans on Wednesday.
Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X or email.
Sam McClure is an award-winning AFL journalist and broadcaster.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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