Victoria Police Investigate Allegations Against Sydney Swans Players Following Sexual Crme
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Victoria Police’s Sexual Crimes Squad is investigating allegations involving five Sydney Swans players who returned to their Melbourne hotel in the early hours of Monday after a night drinking following their MCG victory.
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The Guardian SportSydney Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich, coach Dean Cox and captain Callum Mills spoke to reporters in the 24 hours after police began investigating an alleged sexual assault at the Pullman Hotel on Monday.
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Cox arrived at Swans HQ at about 6.47am on Wednesday, where he told reporters “the club will make a statement”, when asked if there would be some kind of resolution today.
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The group of five players, who had remained in Melbourne on Monday behind the rest of the team as it travelled back to Sydney, attended separate meetings with senior club and team officials away from Swans headquarters after driving home to NSW.
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Police attended the hotel on Monday after receiving a report of an alleged sexual assault.
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AFL CEO Andrew Dillon who had hitherto been silent on the scandal on Tuesday night released a statement that foreshadowed strong action.
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The Swans were forced to remain in Melbourne on Sunday night because Sydney Airport’s curfew prevented the team from returning home following its convincing win over Essendon at the MCG.
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No player has been arrested and the AFL’s disciplinary action does not make any finding in relation to the allegation that remains under investigation by detectives from Victoria Police’s Sexual Crimes Squad.
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This masthead is not suggesting any of the players are under investigation by police, just that they are assisting with inquiries.
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The players are now facing the prospect of missing not only Sydney’s final home-and-away match against North Melbourne on Sunday, but at least part of the Swans’ finals campaign.
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Unlike the NRL, which in 2019 introduced a no-fault stand down policy for players charged with criminal offences that could attract a jail term of 11 years or more, the AFL has preferred to deal with issues on a case-by-case basis. But it has not been afraid to put the image of the game above the rights of the individual.
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The Guardian SportThe mechanic was pioneered in Australia by the NRL in 2019. That code applies a strict stand down policy in cases where a player is charged with a crime punishable by 11 years or more in jail, as well as a discretionary power in cases of violence against women.
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Instead, the AFL and the club have been examining the conduct of the players before and around the alleged incident, and whether their behaviour fell sufficiently below the standards expected of AFL footballers to warrant sanction under the league’s broad disrepute provisions.
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As the Age sports reporter Peter Ryan noted, the AFL has not been afraid to put the image of the game above the rights of the individual. For example, the AFL banned Geelong player Tanner Bruhn from playing in 2025 after he was charged with several sexual assault offences. They were subsequently withdrawn after a witness was found to have lied.
2 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 SMH Sport On the walls somewhere at the Sydney Swans’ HQ would be a series of words; a set of values that the club stands for or, at least, believes that they do. At one stage those words were hard, disciplined, united. I’m sure they are now something different yet just as vague.
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02 The Guardian Sport None of the three said much – likely on legal advice – but none felt compelled to even share a thought about the woman or women whose experiences prompted them to go to police.
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