Banned Swans players apologise to teammates
The Sydney Swans’ five suspended players have apologised to teammates and colleagues after ending their weeks-long exile from the AFL club.
Source: AAP
Swans vice-captain Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice appeared at Swans HQ on Wednesday for the first time since being banned for breaching club standards in August.
Each individually spoke and apologised to staff and the club’s AFL and AFLW playing lists.
Heeney was the only player to speak to journalists after the club meeting, offering a brief statement.
“It was really nice to address the whole club,” he said on Wednesday night.
“I was thankful they could give us their time and understanding, so yeah, it was really good.”
Warner and Bice first arrived together at the club’s base at Moore Park, followed by vice-captain Heeney, Blakey and Jordon in the same car.
Only Heeney and Warner spoke to media upon arriving.
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Warner, flanked by a silent Bice, said he was “just here for my exit interview”.
Asked if he was going to say sorry or anything at all, Warner said: “I don’t know.”
Heeney did not answer when he was asked if he had a message to fans.
None of the five have spoken publicly since a club statement was issued following their round 23 match against Essendon in August.
Their club-imposed suspensions are separate from a police investigation into sexual assault allegations.
No charges have been laid, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the five suspended players.
All five are contracted for next year, with Blakey signed to the Swans until 2031.
Warner and Jordon come off contract at the end of 2027, while Heeney and Bice are signed until the end of 2028.
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Blakey is reportedly seeking a trade to Victorian rivals, but football boss Leon Cameron had dismissed those rumblings as “speculation” earlier this month.
Victoria Police’s eight-week timeline prediction on the investigation into the Pullman Hotel incident — which was first flagged on September 2 — takes in the free agency and trade period from October 2-14.
Main ball-winners Heeney and Warner weren’t invited to Monday night’s Brownlow Medal ceremony at Crown Palladium, but remained eligible for the award.
Heeney and Warner are expected to be frontrunners for Sydney’s Bob Skilton Medal, to be held after Saturday’s grand final.
Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich spoke earlier on Wednesday and said the club would hear the group out.
“I want them to be themselves,” Pavlich said of what he wanted to hear from the players.
“I want them to come in and do what we’d normally do at the end of a season, which is, yeah, player exit meetings.
“If they’ve got something to say to their player group, if they’ve got something to say to the club, then we’ll hear them out then.”
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-with AAP
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