Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Sydney Swans AFLW coach Colin O’Riordan says the events of last week at the football club allowed his team to be vulnerable with each other and forced the players to drop “the body armour a little bit”.
In a historic double-header at the SCG last Sunday, the Swans AFLW team broke their home attendance record, with 16,672 fans cheering them to victory against Essendon, before the Swans AFL team defeated North Melbourne.
The matches were held under clouds of controversy after Swans players Riley Bice, Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Chad Warner were suspended for the rest of the season for breaching the club’s behavioural standards.
The players were banned by their club for their actions in the early hours of August 17 after their Sunday night win over Essendon at the MCG, including drinking, staying out late and bringing women back to the team hotel.
The suspensions are separate from a police investigation into the alleged events of that night, which is ongoing. No players have been charged or formally interviewed.
Ahead of facing St Kilda on Saturday in Coffs Harbour as part of AFLW Indigenous Round, O’Riordan remains proud of his squad’s response to the pressure and scrutiny that came to the football club.
“I think the best way anyone connects with anyone is being vulnerable and being honest, and we were really vulnerable with each other,” O’Riordan said.
“We spoke, we had some conversations together where we probably dropped the body armour a little bit.
“I think as humans, everyone thinks you’re 10-foot tall and bulletproof all the time, and nothing affects you.
“But it affected a lot of people in a lot of different ways, so I think just acknowledging that, accepting it, and then trying to help each other.
“Sometimes you get caught up on what it is to be a human or even just being a football player. But how can you help your teammates? How can you help each other get through tough times? And at times, sometimes you forget that, that’s what we leaned into during the whole week.”
Retired Swans champion Lance Franklin acknowledged the turmoil at his former club, but said his primary thoughts remain with the alleged victim on his podcast, The Buddy and Shane Show, with Hawthorn great Shane Crawford.
“Obviously, there is an alleged victim, a part of this, so our thoughts are with her and the girls involved in this,” Franklin said.
“But, yeah, what a sad, sad time for the footy club, an absolute disaster for them at this stage … But, I think the way they (Swans) galvanised and played on the weekend shows you the club’s very united.”
O’Riordan, like his colleague, Swans AFL coach Dean Cox, admitted football was “secondary” last week.
O’Riordan played 34 games for the Swans before moving into coaching and said he believed the “majority” of male players were supportive of the AFLW team.
“We’ve been vulnerable to each other, but above all we put our arms around each other,” O’Riordan said.
“To see Errol (Gulden), to see Millsy (captain Callum Mills) to see the emotion on Sunday, I think everyone felt it.
“It was like a real release, but I know the majority of the boys, and most of them to be honest, have our backs.
“That’s what the girls see, and that’s what they love, and they cherish as a club.”
The Swans are on a two-game winning streak in the AFLW, and the competition’s first Irish coach acknowledged the support following them.
“It’s been overwhelming at times, to be honest, to run out during the weekend and see 16,500 Swan supporters,” O’Riordan said.
“We hear you. We hear your support so much. I think some people underestimate that at times. I firmly believe, I’ve said it since I came to this club, we have the best supporters in the world.
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