Source :- THE AGE NEWS
AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says the five Swans players suspended by Sydney for breaching the club’s behavioural standards have also been banned from attending the Brownlow Medal count.
Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were stood down for the remainder of the season after drinking, staying out late and inviting women back to the team hotel following their win over Essendon in round 23.
The five players are still eligible to win the award for the AFL’s best and fairest player.
“The invitations to the Brownlow will be going out this week. Those players won’t be invited,” Dillon said.
“They are still eligible for the Brownlow but they’re under a club suspension, which goes until the the end of the season.”
Dillon said it was a matter for the Swans whether the players should still be allowed to win the club best and fairest.
The club-imposed suspensions are separate from a Victoria Police investigation into an allegation of sexual assault in the early hours of Monday morning at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel.
This masthead has previously reported that Heeney is a focus of the investigation.
A source with knowledge of the players’ position has said they deny criminal wrongdoing.
At least two other men were in the hotel room on the night of the alleged sexual assault.
This masthead revealed on Sunday that at least one fresh allegation of sexual assault and multiple claims of sexual conduct without consent had been made by the three women at the centre of the investigation.
It is not known which men the allegations are about, and to date police have only referenced “a report of a sexual assault”. This masthead is not suggesting any of the men in the room engaged in conduct of a sexual nature without consent, only that it has been alleged.
Dillon said the AFL would not open its own investigation until the police probe was completed.
“Those matters at the moment are under police investigation, so the AFL won’t be conducting any of its own inquiries until after the police investigation is finished,” he said.
“We don’t know where that will go and, at that stage, when that’s completed, the AFL will some inquiries. I think what is clear is the Swans are taking action with the support of the AFL based on the information that is at hand now, and there’s been accountability for those players that were involved last week.”
Dillon did not rule out the players being deregistered.
“Again, I’m not going to go into hypotheticals. We’ve got a police investigation that is underway. Once that’s completed, the AFL will make its own,” he said.
Dillon said he was unaware if there was a recording of the alleged incident.
“Look, I am not aware of that but, again, if there is a tape that’s relevant to the police investigation, it should be forwarded on to the police.”
Dillon denied the league had a wider cultural problem.
“I think the actions of a few don’t take away from the thousands of people involved in football at all different levels who do great things all the time,” he said.
“But what we do know is that we can do things better, and we’ll continue to do that, and we’ll continue to learn a bit better.”
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Jon Pierik is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X or email.
