Alleged incident at hotel on Sunday night

[UUaswan]

Not looking for conflict but it annoys me when people use the word "woke". I find it lazy and demeaning. It's a mythical political word that if anything simply means 'respect for others no matter who they are'.....but it is bandied about as some sort of insult to those who do believe in respect for others by those that seemingly don't care too much.....and also thrown out there to diminish well meaning efforts to achieve the reasonable goal of societal respect.

I think the public rightly needs to immediately support accusers/victims of sexual assault.....if that is 'woke', so be it but I would say it's actually appeasement of a potential victims claims and their right to be heard. Until the facts may say otherwise, I think in a responsible society this is the right way to go.

Having said that, we do have a justice system that promotes the concept of innocent until proven guilty, so I do get your point......just not sure it's 'wokeness' that is turning that concept on it's head as some may claim has happened here. My guess is that the players have admitted, to the club at least that something of an inappropriate sexual nature has occurred, whether it be by one or more players.

Anyway, hopefully the police will get to the bottom of it.

Its doing something based on the look of it, like Merdo said, the response considers the Police Investigation

All I was saying, is I agree let's sanction the players til finals and see if charges come, not get on the front foot and derail a whole Organisation to appease the media for something that may not even be a charge.

If its drug use or SA let charges come and appropriate sanctions take place, but wait for due process.

[stevoswan]

Rules for thee but not for me

Players can't play but Pav and Cox can continue in their most Senior roles overseeing AFLW, meeting Sponsors addressing members

I do think these attempts to implicate management and coaches as just as responsible for what has happened and therefore somehow lessens the responsibility of the players is neither healthy nor helping anyone.

Do coaches and club management set the standards for our clubs cultural expectations? Yes.

Were they in the room when the alleged incident happened? No.

Should they accompany adult players everywhere they go to ensure cultural expectations are adhered to? Of course not.

There is a concept of trust and expectations of player responsibility in any sporting club....we can't have chaperones for adults so the players involved are solely responsible for what occurred that night.

End of story.

[stevoswan]

Grab on to this thought: WE are the new Essendon.

We are not. I think that claim is just ridiculous.....but I do understand there are a lot of opposition morons out there who will try to make it so.....and they can get ****ed.

[Daisi]

The below is just my opinion.

I would like to think that morality played a role in the suspension of the 5 players, but I'm inclined to believe that commercial reality may have played a larger role. The relative failure of the Giants has shown that AFL has a tenuous hold on the Sydney public, the Swans are, right now, the only viable AFL team in one of the country's largest markets. A scandal like this, the endless newspaper articles, the splashed ugly headlines, the rumours, the innuendos, the gossip, it's all a terrible look for sponsors, for members, and for the AFL in Sydney. How many sponsors would continue with the club if the 5 players were playing? How many members would show up to watch them play? Combine this with an NRL establishment and associated journos which would love to reclaim the whole of Sydney for its own, and you're looking at forces which could, quite likely destroy the viability of the club. Pavlich and Co had no choice, they had to stop this feral feeding frenzy in the media to preserve the long term viability of the club. That's what they've done.

I support the decision. I understand that people may see it as condemning the 5 players unfairly, but in the broader context, it was the only thing the board could do. I also think it has the added benefit of punishing some very stupid juvenile and possibly criminal behaviour by the players concerned. I'm upset, horrified and was not going to renew my membership next year. Now I will renew, because the club has taken action. But I'm not naive enough to believe that the action was based solely on moral terms. I'm a born and bred Sydneysider, I know that money talks louder than morality in this town.

[Velour&Ruffles]

So I had the same experience as another member and was put in Poster Purgatory – not sure why because I was very careful not to say anything with implications for ongoing external issues, and what I said didn’t seem much different to many published posts. I put it down to some sort of overzealous filter rather than the Mods.

I will [very slightly] rephrase my post and see if it gets through.

A few thoughts for what (little, if anything) they may be worth:

• I agree with Merdo that some element of punishment for more sinister behaviour - suspected or otherwise - has been built into the sanction. If it was just about late night boozing, and even bringing a [person who disrobes for a living] back to a room (which is not against the [rules of the country], albeit distasteful), there's no way they would cop 6 weeks .... especially when there were apparently no formal team curfews or other rules in place even to be broken. The club may say it's about a breach of expected standards quite separate from whatever the [people in blue] are doing but that just doesn't stack up in light of the severity of the sanction for both the individuals and the consequences for their teammates.
• I'm in two (or maybe three) minds at this point as to whether the club going so heavy now is OK, inevitable or unreasonable. I understand the arguments each way. But given the club HAS gone hard, I find it very disappointing (and rather knee-jerk) to hear that based on the scant knowledge we currently have, some people are apparently looking at bailing forever on the club and taking their support elsewhere. I think that, if anything, the club has erred on the side of harshness given current knowledge. They are clearly taking it VERY seriously. They are NOT sweeping it under the rug or trying to minimise anything, as would have been the way of the VFL/AFL for decades.
• I'm not sure what more they could have done while still allowing for the fact there's a [people in blue] investigation yet to be completed. The club has been around for 153 years. Yes, it's extremely disappointing that any players - let alone these particular ones - acted like this. But to bail on a 153 year history and a lifetime of support because of the actions of 5 stupid and entitled young men behaving like stupid and entitled young men - and suffering significant consequences - seems hasty and disproportionate to me. The old saying about individuals comes to mind - nobody is as good as their best act or as bad as their worst act. I would extend the same grace to the club. This is a pretty low point but surely the club has earned some credits in 153 years too.
• Watching the Agenda Setters on Monday, Caro made a comment - which nobody explored - to the effect that there had been whispers for a while about a drinking culture at the Swans. If so, it's very disappointing that it was tolerated and allowed to get to this stage. It might also explain why we have kept falling at key hurdles.

?

[mcs]

The below is just my opinion.

I would like to think that morality played a role in the suspension of the 5 players, but I'm inclined to believe that commercial reality may have played a larger role. The relative failure of the Giants has shown that AFL has a tenuous hold on the Sydney public, the Swans are, right now, the only viable AFL team in one of the country's largest markets. A scandal like this, the endless newspaper articles, the splashed ugly headlines, the rumours, the innuendos, the gossip, it's all a terrible look for sponsors, for members, and for the AFL in Sydney. How many sponsors would continue with the club if the 5 players were playing? How many members would show up to watch them play? Combine this with an NRL establishment and associated journos which would love to reclaim the whole of Sydney for its own, and you're looking at forces which could, quite likely destroy the viability of the club. Pavlich and Co had no choice, they had to stop this feral feeding frenzy in the media to preserve the long term viability of the club. That's what they've done.

I support the decision. I understand that people may see it as condemning the 5 players unfairly, but in the broader context, it was the only thing the board could do. I also think it has the added benefit of punishing some very stupid juvenile and possibly criminal behaviour by the players concerned. I'm upset, horrified and was not going to renew my membership next year. Now I will renew, because the club has taken action. But I'm not naive enough to believe that the action was based solely on moral terms. I'm a born and bred Sydneysider, I know that money talks louder than morality in this town.

I think its a very well reasoned comment Daisi. Especially around the commercial realities. I just think the idea the board could do anything else in this situation is pie in the sky thinking.

When considering the initial sanctions, some on here more broadly are also forgetting the club has a whole lot more information about what went on up to the point before the incident then what is in the public domain. Reading between the lines, and if some of what has been floating about, the offences in question go well beyond the simplification currently being presented in the media. Despite the desperation of some to put footballing matters into decision making as the primary element, it is abundantly clear they were not at the top of the list - although equally I don't doubt there was at least a discussion on that side to begin with.

But some clearly think they know better than those with far greater knowledge of what actually happened then any of us do. You are all open to your own views of the worlds, likewise I will hold my opinion on the veracity of such view points.

[Tommy_Wolfe7]

Speculation free take on some of the underlying issues related to this situation:

https://readingtheplay.wordpress.com/2026/08/19/boys-will-be-boys-until-they-arent/