Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
In banning vice-captain Isaac Heeney, All-Australian players in Chad Warner and Nick Blakey, and role players James Jordon and Riley Bice for the rest of the season, the Sydney Swans have, according to their chairman, “torpedoed” their year.
And AFL great Nick Riewoldt now wonders whether another step should be taken where the team should be dumped from the finals altogether in the aftermath of the hotel scandal and serious allegations that has sent shockwaves through the entire industry.
Regardless of what happens in the final home and away game of the season against North Melbourne, Sydney will finish second on the ladder.
All teams in the top four are guaranteed two finals, and the top two have home finals.
“So we have someone that’s second on the ladder, currently, hosting two finals in the AFL’s final series who can’t win the premiership. Their own chairman has said their season has been torpedoed,” Riewoldt said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters.
“They probably don’t want to win the premiership now because of how that will look.
“Is there a lever that the AFL would consider pulling, or can pull, that would remove them from the finals? Because at the moment we’ve got a lame duck in the final series.”
There are obviously more serious issues at play here with “the Sydney five” facing allegations of sexual assault.
Riewoldt acknowledged the seriousness of those allegations, but was adressing questions about the ban of the five players and how it affected the competition.
“Well, it’s materially impacted the finals,” he said on The Agenda Setters.
“We know that because we’ve heard from the president saying that it’s torpedoed their season. So torpedoing your season means you’re at the bottom of the ocean, it means it’s over.
“So all of a sudden there’s a premium on whoever can finish third (and play Sydney in week 1 of the finals).
“And if you look at some of the scenarios here, any one of Brisbane, Hawthorn and Geelong can potentially move into that third position, play Sydney at the SCG, likely win and then go straight through to a home preliminary final.”
Riewoldt said removing a team from the finals was not unprecedented.
“It’s happened before (with Essendon),” Riewoldt said.
In 2013, due to Essendon’s doping scandal, the team finished seventh of the ladder but was relegated to ninth and excluded from the finals, replaced by Carlton (who had won three fewer games).
But 7NEWS sports reporter Tom Morris wondered if punishing the whole team would be an overreaction.
“It would be amazing if they punished the entire club and kicked them out of finals because of the actions of potentially five players,” Morris said, while acknowledging the unprecedented nature of the situation.
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Riewoldt: “Do you think that’s something that the AFL would have investigated? Because that’s the reality of the situation is we’ve got a team finishing second, playing two home finals and their president has said their season is over.”
Morris: “What I do think is this just isn’t on those players involved. This is on the club, the culture, the coaches, the CEO, the president, directly, indirectly, everyone. This is on the club and it reflects poorly on the club and I think they would understand that.”
AFL expert Kate McCarthy wondered if the league could take action on the club for “bringing the game into disrepute”.
“This happened in a hotel room paid by the football club … These things happened within a workplace,” McCarthy said.
“If you did this at a workplace and you’re on a conference and this happens in your workplace, in your hotel room that is paid for by your workplace, there is more to answer to than that.”
If you or someone you know needs help, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), or Sexual Assault Counselling Australia on 1800 211 028, the WA Sexual Assault Resource Centre on 6458 1828 or 1800 199 888 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.
