Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Sydney chair Andrew Pridham says his club’s suspended players are “extremely remorseful for their actions” and says the decision to “effectively torpedo our season” showed how seriously the Swans had taken the matter.
Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice have been banned from playing for the rest of the year, in a club-enforced decision made separate to the sexual assault investigation being conducted by Victoria Police.
This masthead is not suggesting the players are guilty of any wrongdoing, just that they are assisting police with enquiries.
Addressing the bans on Wednesday, Pridham said the players regretted their behaviour in the hours following the club’s win over Essendon on Sunday night into Monday morning.
“They’re extremely remorseful for their actions and having breached the club’s standards,” he said.
The chair apologised to everyone impacted.
“I want to offer an apology, a sincere apology,” Pridham said. “Our thoughts go out to everybody who’s been impacted by these events, and we know it’s impacted many people, ranging from the partners of our staff, our players, our women’s program, our men’s program.
“There’s deep disappointment within the club at what has occurred. We know that many people are hurting.”
Pridham said in arriving at the suspension decision, the board felt it was important that they set a “very high standard and bar in terms of the seriousness of this matter” with a “very significant sanction”.
“Clearly something has gone wrong. They shouldn’t have been in that situation of being out that late,” he said.
“The only way we can deal with it is to put our foot down incredibly hard, which we’ve done.
“As a football club, that is our business. And to effectively torpedo our season by making this decision tells you how seriously we’re taking it.”
Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich said the club was “deeply embarrassed and ashamed at the poor choices of five of our players”.
When asked specifically what had been factored into the club’s decision to suspend the five players, Pavlich said: “It was staying out late, it was drinking, it was continuing their night, it was bringing women back to the hotel.
“It was a long way short of what we expect of our players,” he said.
“We’re holding them to a really high standard, but they were well short of anywhere near that standard.”
The suspended players will be allowed to be at the football club while serving their bans.
Pavlich defended the culture of the wider club in the wake of the five players’ actions.
“This football club’s had a wonderful, strong, rich culture. But we’ve got a long way back here to rebuild the trust of our fans, our commercial partners, our sponsors, and the people that love the Sydney Swans,” he said.
He said the club’s AFLW players were “deeply disappointed”, and said Sydney management had addressed that group a number of times this week to ensure their welfare was supported.
- 1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732
- National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service: 1800 211 028
