Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Sydney’s five exiled players will remain stood down until the end of the AFL season, regardless of how an ongoing police investigation unfolds.
Victoria Police have interviewed four Sydney men as part of an investigation into sexual assault allegations during a post-AFL match party at East Melbourne’s Pullman Hotel.
Swans players Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were suspended for the remainder of the season for “breaching club standards” and will not be at the SCG for the club’s qualifying final against Brisbane on Saturday.
Those suspensions are separate to the police investigation.
Swans coach Dean Cox reiterated those sanctions would remain unchanged despite police interviewing only four men.
Detectives confirmed they travelled to NSW this week to interview a 30-year-old Maroubra man, a 25-year-old Paddington man and two Randwick men aged 25 and 26.
No charges have been laid and AAP is not suggesting any wrongdoing on the part of the five suspended players.
“All five will remain stood down from the football club,” Cox said on Thursday.
“That’s one thing that we spoke about at the start, the police investigation and then the behavioural nature of it.
“We’re going to be separated, and that will still remain.”
Police have flagged that an update to the investigation is not expected for at least eight weeks.
Cox – who has remained in contact with the five players over their wellbeing – said the timeframe was out of the club’s control as they wrestle with making a call on the group’s playing future.
The eight-week period takes in the free agency and trade period from October 2 to October 14.
“That’s part of the investigation of the way they do it. I just focus on what we can control and what I can control,” Cox said.
Asked about potential impacts on the club’s trade period, the Swans coach was short: “There are so many things that we need to talk about, so not for today.”
While Sydney club chairman Andrew Pridham claimed the suspensions would “torpedo” the second-placed Swans’ premiership hopes, Cox was adamant the playing group still had drive.
The Swans return to the SCG after a bye weekend following their emotional 53-point win over North Melbourne, where Cox and captain Callum Mills were in tears after the siren.
“There’s still an expectation. You’re hosting a qualifying final at home with a chance to go into a prelim, so there’s still a hell of a lot at stake,” Cox said.
“That’s one thing that I want to make sure our players are aware of: the magnitude of this game for our football club and what we’ve spent so long trying to get to.”
