Once the Sydney Swans recognised that there was far more at stake than the team they would field in the 2026 finals series, the decision to ban five key players for the remainder of the season became logical.
The Swans’ hierarchy made a principled decision, and their chairman Andrew Pridham and his chief executive Matthew Pavlich must be commended for that stance.
They read the play. The AFL was not going to tolerate anything less than a significant penalty, but the Swans did not need to be hectored, or pushed by headquarters. They arrived at that destination, themselves.
They could not address matters that involved the police and, from what this column gathered, they intentionally did not question the five on the specifics of what happened in the hotel room that prompted the sexual assault allegation and police investigation.
The focus was on the events and prior behaviour (said to be in breach of club standards) that led to that investigation.
They knew that the damage from those events was awful – to the reputation of club, the individual players and, regarding the later incident subject to the investigation, allegedly to the women concerned.
One could argue that if the ban reached three matches, then they might as well suspend the five for the entire season. The Swans will be long odds to beat the Brisbane Lions or Hawthorn in the qualifying final without Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey. James Jordon and Riley Bice’s absences won’t help either.
It will be challenging to win a subsequent semi-final without the players, too.
But the goal of winning finals and striving to win the premiership was relegated – rightly. Pridham’s comment that they had been willing to torpedo the season encapsulated their mindset.
The Swans are the flagship club of the northern states for the AFL and for the code. They are on the frontline against a revived NRL in the game’s most challenging market.
Successful in their missionary mission, the Swans have profited from the perception that they are well-managed and that their players embrace a culture of diligence and decency.
But AFL teams in Sydney are not subjected to the obsessive scrutiny – especially on social media now – that accompanies players from Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond et al. This anonymity is part of their appeal to quality players.
It is a more relaxed environment in which players can go for a drink without being filmed on smartphones or stalked. It is reasonable to ask whether this lack of scrutiny permits players liberties that aren’t afforded in Melbourne.
No AFL club is inherently more virtuous than the others. Further, organisations’ cultures should be judged on the reaction to a stuff up, rather than merely the mistake itself.
Dean Cox would know how his former club, West Coast, fell into severe disrepute in the mid to late 2000s when they had a drug problem within the playing group and Ben Cousins was the poster child of an implosion. He would know that the real life consequences outweigh any on-field success.
West Coast accepted that they needed to repair a broken culture and were willing to tumble down the ladder to achieve it.
Sydney’s situation is not as drastic as West Coast’s, and will not require an intervention or collateral crash on that scale.
Yet, the Swans are bound to ask themselves and to probe whether this incident was a) a one-off stupidity, or b) a canary in the mine showing that their playing culture isn’t so flash.
Removing the question of alleged criminal matters, the alleged presence of two women in the hotel room for the entertainment of five players sounded like the most degraded versions of end of season footy trips – brought forward to the eve of finals.
For the five, it turned out to be their end of season footy trip.
The unprofessionalism (as found by the club) is staggering, especially considering three are senior players on hefty contracts, not 20-year-olds.
Heeney’s fall is precipitous. He is the face of the club, wholesome and hitherto highly saleable to sponsors. Obviously, he cannot continue as member of the leadership group, which is the least of his concerns given he is the focus of the police investigation. The players have denied wrongdoing, according to a source familiar with the players’ position.
It is notable that the Sydney hierarchy did not rule out offloading some of the five.
Chad Warner is a free agent next year and has the option of heading back to Perth; the prospect of joining the Eagles or Dockers may be more enticing today than on Sunday afternoon. So much is yet to play out.
The expedient, well-trod path would be to jettison one or two of the lesser players, Bice and/or Jordon, to make a statement to the rest of the playing group while keeping the stars.
Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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