"Deeply sorry": Suspended Swans release joint statement

Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice have released a joint statement off the back of their club-enforced suspension on Wednesday afternoon.

The five players have been suspended for the remainder of the season amid an ongoing police investigation of an alleged sexual assault.

The statement is as follows:

"We are deeply sorry to everyone involved. We know that our behaviour has fallen well short of the standards expected of us and the values of our Club.

"We know we have let down our partners and families, members, supporters, teammates, the AFLW team, corporate partners and everyone at the Club and in the wider community.

"We accept the Club sanction and apologise for the impact this has had on those involved.

"Our focus will now be on rebuilding trust with the Club and the community."

The Sydney Swans this morning sanctioned the five players at the centre of an alleged sexual assault incident in Melbourne.

Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice have all copped suspensions for the remainder of the 2026 AFL season including finals.

These are the football ramifications, imposed by the Swans with support of the AFL, which are separate to the Victoria Police investigation.

Swans Chairman Andrew Pridham spoke to the media on Wednesday afternoon.

“I know that there is great interest in the broader aspects of the situation; please appreciate that we are in a position where it is subject to a Victoria Police enquire and therefore our statement will purely relate to our enquiries relative to the five players involved breaching the standards of our football club,” he said.

“As much as we would like to, we cannot discuss any matters broader to that, and our enquiries were very much limited to their actions on Monday morning relative to the high standards that we hold as a club.

“From the outset, I want to offer a sincere apology to the community, to our many, many fans, our corporate partners who have been amazingly supportive of us, understanding that we are attempting to deal with this matter as quickly and as honestly as we can given the constraints of the police enquiry and to very much be transparent in our dealings with the media.

“Our thoughts go out to everybody who has been impacted by these events, and we know it has impacted many, many people ranging from the partners of our staff, our players, our women's program and men's program.

“There is deep disappointment within the club at what has occurred, and we know that many people are hurting, and we are providing support to our players, to their partners and to as many people as we can.

“To our fans and members, many have expressed their deep concerns with the events and to them, I want to say that we want to work very, very hard to rebuild your trust. We have had a magnificent relationship with our fans, corporate partners and the community in general over many many years and we really want to rebuild that and with everybody that hopefully people can see how seriously we have taken this matter.

“We are very proud of our culture that we have built over many, many years at the club. We get more right than we get wrong, clearly this is a very sad day for us and for everybody involved.

“I know that the five players that are involved are extremely remorseful for their actions and having breached the club’s standards, and I think that the standards that we have imposed and the impact that that will have on our football club is clear to see.

“Making this decision in terms of the sanction, it is very important to note that the football outcome was not of consideration to the board. We are purely looking at this through the lens of a small number of players relative to our total playing list breaching our high standards that we expect.

“We are disappointed, we look forward to moving forward and hopefully we can deal with this matter in a professional way going forward.”

Embarrassed and ashamed

Swans CEO Matthew Pavlich said the club arrived at the sanctions imposed having worked closely with the five players as well as the people impacted by their actions.

“So we've been working very closely with the five players involved with the AFL who are supportive of this approach and so too we've been chatting a lot at length with the AFL Players’ Association,” Pavlich told reporters.

“As Andrew said, we respect that this is an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police and the actions we've taken today are totally independent of this. We arrived at this sanction after our own internal inquiries with the five players and other parties.

“As I said on Monday, to say we're disappointed is an understatement. We're deeply embarrassed and ashamed that our poor choices, or the poor choices of five of our players, and the impact that's had on the women involved and also the club, our supporters and so many other people that Andrew's talked about.

“But as I said, it's important to understand that this sanction is only as it relates to the players' behaviours and the standards that we accept and were expecting of them post-game on Sunday night and into Monday morning.

“Those standards are of the highest order and we hold all players and staff accountable to those really high standards and personal conduct.

“We’re not shying away from this issue. We've made a big statement, we've taken this incredibly seriously.”

Pavlich acknowledged the victims and says the club is concerned for their wellbeing.

“We’re deeply concerned about their welfare and the wellbeing of those women,” he added.

“We offer as much support as we can. They're the ones who are impacted severely at the moment and we are here to acknowledge those allegations.

“It's a police matter so we're not going to interfere with that by reaching out to them.”

Pavlich answered questions from the media.

What were the high standards that were breached?

“It was staying out late, it was drinking, it was continuing to continue their night, it was bringing women back to the hotel,” he said.

“It was a long way short of what we expect of our players and we're holding them to a really high standard, but they were well short of anywhere near that standard.”

You said earlier this week that the players found themselves in that situation. Do you regret that phrasing?

“We were getting on the front foot, we were trying to take ownership of this process and this incident. We are deeply disappointed with the players' behaviour, but at the same time, we are expressing our concerns deeply for the women involved.”

Are the players able to train within the club facilities?

“The first part of your question, we're not abandoning our players. We are supporting our players through this really challenging time for them.

“Just to be clear, they will not be considered for AFL selection for the remainder of the season, including finals, but they will be allowed back in the football club.”

Regarding the coaching staff also being out late

“The staff, so coaches, physios, doctors, commercial staff, media people, had to pre-planned get-together. They all finished the game quite late, they all got back to the hotel quite late, had some dinner and then went out. It wasn't inappropriate what they did. No issue at all with them.”

Were players given instructions about when they should have been back at the hotel?

“No curfew.”

Does the club have a culture problem?

“I think that Andrew might be best placed to speak to the culture of this football club because he's been here for a long period of time but all I can say is that 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.”

Was there drug testing of the players?

“That's potentially part of the police matter which we aren't going near.”

There are such senior players involved. How has this happened?

“The fact that we have got to the place that we are today and that we’ve effectively suspended the players for the balance of the season when we are heading into a finals series just tells you how seriously we’ve taken it,” Pridham answered.

“Clearly, something has gone wrong. They shouldn’t have been in that situation of being out that late, and the only way we can deal with it is to put our foot down incredibly hard, which we have done.

“A very important point to make – as a football club, that is our business. To effectively torpedo our season by making a decision such as this tells you how seriously we’re taking it.”

Pavlich made clear a few things relating to the incident.

“There are a lot of mistruths," he said.

“Can I just be clear on a couple of things; all five players have not been formally interviewed by police, and no charges have been laid whatsoever.

“There are a lot of mistruths out there, which we are trying to manage as best as we can.

“There are issues related to the police matter that we cannot talk about, but I want to make that crystal clear.”

A Swans statement read: "Sydney Swans players Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner will not be considered for selection for the remainder of the 2026 AFL Season.

"The AFL is supportive of the Club’s sanctions.

"We respect there is an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police and the actions we have taken today are independent of this."

They will miss this weekend's clash with North Melbourne as well as the impending finals series which will include a home final after claiming second spot on the ladder.

None of the quintet have been formally charged.