The behavioural red flags the Swans should have noticed before Melbourne bender

The red flags for Sydney, which could have signalled one of the heaviest falls from grace in Australian sporting memory, were not apparent in the days leading up to Isaac Heeney and his four teammates’ post-game bender which concluded 12 days ago with a fruitless appearance at Melbourne police headquarters. That voluntary appearance was followed by an emotional car journey back to Sydney with the Swans’ football boss Leon Cameron and media chief Tom Chadwick.

It was a journey punctuated by coffee stops, silences, hard questions and vehement denials. As the kilometres ticked over for the 30-year-old Sydney vice-captain and Australian rules poster boy, the consequences of the inexplicable Mad Monday saw life as he knew it slowly unravel.

It was a scenario unrecognisable from just days earlier when Heeney flew to Melbourne for the Swans’ round 23 clash with Essendon. Heeney had already started public signings in Sydney for his children’s book series and was organising his scheduled clinic appearances for Fifth Quarter Camps – a company he part-owned – at Yarrawonga and Albury over September and October alongside potential clashes with Sydney’s finals campaign.

On the eve of the game Heeney sat down with Hamish McLachlan and recorded a one-hour interview for the Seven Network’s Unfiltered. The strength of the so-called “Bloods Culture” was a constant talking point during the interview during which Heeney focused on the pain, embarrassment, and lingering scars from the 2024 grand final defeat. He extolled the leadership strength of past Swans Jarrad McVeigh, Kieren Jack, Josh Kennedy, Dan Hannebery and Luke Parker. Heeney said those players had passed on lessons to him and the current leadership group, creating a positive influence for the rest of his teammates.

Heeney, who has the highest profile of the five banned players, also said he believed the Swans had found the right balance in recent years by combining high football standards with enjoyment. Unlike the News.com.au interview, which has come back to haunt him from last November when Heeney said he avoided excessive drinking during the football season, calling himself “a bit of a saint,” the McLachlan interview has been shelved. The following day he was awarded the maximum possible 10 coaches’ votes in Sydney’s six-goal win as he headed towards a third successive club best and fairest award, for which he may not now be eligible.

The collateral damage from Heeney’s fall has been well-documented and continues, ranging from Cetaphil skincare – the latest brand to sever ties with player – to Outer Sanctum podcaster and writer Nicole Hayes, who co-authored the Little Isaac books. All of this is quite apart from his family and football club and the Swans AFLW players, who want a say in whether any of the quintet can return to the Royal Hall of Industries.

Jeremy Cameron will appear alongside Toby Greene at the next Fifth Quarter Camps, and that company is working through negotiations to remove Heeney as a shareholder. Heeney’s manager, Ben Williams, has not returned calls from this masthead and his contact with some of Heeney’s business partners has been minimal.

AFL NSW, which itself severed ties with Fifth Quarter Camps last year for other strategic reasons, is looking at ploughing a six-figure investment into a 2027 respect campaign across all Australian Rules clubs in the state.

Heeney has been identified as one focus of a Victoria Police sexual assault investigation, which resulted from that all-night bender which followed the twilight game which had progressed to a Swans hotel room at the Pullman opposite the MCG involving Heeney and four teammates, a former teammate and at least one other man, along with hired dancers from Party Girls Melbourne.

Members of the Sexual Crimes Squad still have not interviewed him or the other players, who have all publicly denied criminal wrongdoing. Last week, the police flew to Sydney and took statements from coach Dean Cox, football boss Cameron, welfare boss Brett Kirk and media executive Chadwick. None of these individuals was involved in the alleged incident, but they were present in the Pullman lobby early on Monday when confrontational scenes occurred.

As police continue their investigations, Heeney’s football future remains unclear, along with those of his teammates Nick Blakey — who, like Heeney had been selected and then removed from the 2026 All-Australian team – Chad Warner, Riley Bice and James Jordon. Already banned by their club for the rest of the season for breaching club standards, they face further AFL scrutiny under the conduct unbecoming rule if police charges do not proceed. The alleged victims also plan to launch civil action against them. The club and the AFLPA remain in regular contact with all five, but Sydney cannot say when they will return to the club and whether it may happen at some point during the finals campaign.

The nature of Heeney’s dual reality – the golden boy of the code in NSW embroiled in such an unsavoury scandal – will have haunted Sydney chairman Andrew Pridham and other club bosses.

Pridham has launched a widespread review into the Swans’ off-field behaviour and what could have been done to prevent the incident that has “torpedoed” the Swans’ season and tainted the national competition. Pridham and his new CEO Matthew Pavlich will oversee the investigation internally and also bring in an external consultant to examine their players’ behaviour.

The review has already begun and will run concurrently with the club’s finals campaign because the Swans are mindful that they might only have access to their players for another three weeks — and in a best-case scenario five weeks — before those players embark on long-term leave.

For years, players from the occasionally pressure-cooker existence of the AFL in its heartland cities have moved to Sydney and marvelled at the lack of off-field scrutiny they enjoy in the rugby league town.

Now Heeney, engaged to long-time partner Steffanie Waters, has been the focus of one of the biggest scandals in the game’s history as the club’s second most senior on-field leader. Inevitably questions have emerged over whether those bosses should have heeded cultural red flags. Certainly, at a club where co-captains have been a tradition, there was no talk under new coach Dean Cox of placing Heeney alongside Callum Mills, whom the coach has described as clearly the club’s best leader.

In 2024 Sydney AFLW players Alexia Hamilton and Paige Sheppard were banned for two matches by the AFL for possessing an illegal drug. Then later that year young Swan Caiden Cleary – who returned to the team last week following the Pullman suspensions – was caught trying to buy drugs in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and subsequently banned by the AFL for two games. Did the club adequately investigate the circumstances surrounding both incidents?

Of course, all clubs deal with some players either struggling with illicit drugs and alcohol issues or simply over-indulging in both.

It was interesting that Heeney singled out premiership star Hannebery in his now-shelved Unfiltered interview given Hannebery was warned in 2014 by the Swans about his off-field behaviour. Ultimately, the club was happy to offload him following strong overtures from St Kilda. It was not the first time, nor will it be the last, that a club was content to handball a problem elsewhere.

It is informative that Kieren Jack was so public with his emotional comments on social media after the scandal broke, describing the Bloods Culture as “broken”. Twenty years ago, 19-year-old Jack spoke up at the conclusion of a team meeting, asking why no one had taken any form of action when an experienced player arrived intoxicated at training earlier that season. Jack ultimately co-captained Sydney for four years alongside Jarrad McVeigh, whose zero-tolerance approach to drugs and heavy drinking culture was a hallmark of his leadership.

The Pridham-led deep dive will surely expose that culture has changed. Swans coaches and football officials have vehemently denied to this masthead reports that the players were given even a subtle green light to party on the Sunday night in question. They also stressed that Cox never came close to implying that significant players would be rested for the round 24 North Melbourne game. The coaches say they remain genuinely shocked at what took place. Which begs the question: how did communication between the football leaders break down so irrevocably?

None of which justified the debauchery that followed. But the bigger question in terms of the team – statistically the second best performed to date in 2026 – is why not one of the five saw fit at any point to halt the inexcusable behaviour. Or why no other player stepped up earlier when a modest hit-out turned into a massive drinkathon for some, failing to see the warning signs. Or why they were unprepared to stand up to the group and show leadership.

Carlton chief Graham Wright told 3AW last week he had no idea whether his players were subject to a curfew, adding he saw no need for one. “They’re grown men,” said Wright.

The Swans, the AFL’s integrity unit and Victoria Police have been alerted to a purported taped conversation between the alleged victims which the Swans believe could change the narrative.

Whether or not that tape exists, the five privileged professional footballers at the very least treated the women involved, along with their own teammates and the wider community, with disrespect.

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