Victoria Police have reportedly seized a secret audio recording featuring accounts from inside the hotel room at the centre of the sexual assault allegations against five Sydney Swans players.
The recording is set to be a key piece of evidence in an ongoing police investigation into the alleged incident.
The five Swans – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice – were suspended by the club for the remainder of the season for a breach of behavioural standards after it emerged a night of partying at Melbourne’s Pullman Hotel following their Round 23 win over Essendon had led to the serious accusations.
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Detectives have since travelled to Sydney to speak with four of the players, and are reportedly now considering Bice, as well as former Swan Taylor Adams and another man believed to have been in the room on the same night, as witnesses.
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The Agehas reported that a recording, featuring accounts from people “inside the hotel room” on the night of the alleged incident, is now with Victoria Police.
An unnamed source told the masthead that the recording was made in the days after the incident, and also includes recollections of coach Dean Cox and other Swans’ officials interactions with the women who had been inside the room in the Pullman foyer on the following morning.
Both the Swans and the AFL were reportedly informed of the recording, but not what it contained or even that it actually existed.
Reports emerged in the days following the alleged incident that the club had been told by a person claiming to be connected to the women hired by the players and two other men as exotic dancers that there was a recording.
The Swans then informed the AFL Integrity Unit, who passed the information to police.
Swans players sing their song after their Round 20 win over GWS. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/AFL Photos/via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Foxfooty.com.au is not suggesting any criminal wrongdoing by the five players.
Victoria Police confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that Sexual Crimes Squad detectives had travelled to Sydney to speak to a 26-year-old Randwick man, a 30-year-old Maroubra man, a 25-year-old Randwick man and a 25-year-old Paddington man.
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“Police now believe they have now identified all parties who were in the room at the time of the alleged incident and are not looking for anyone further,” the statement reads.
“The investigation into the circumstances remains active and ongoing.”
Police have said they are unlikely to provide further information publicly for the next eight weeks while the investigation runs its course.
It has also since been revealed that Blakey is exploring a trade away from the Swans, with The Age’sSam McClure reporting that the star defender is “angry about the club’s handling of the situation”.
Nick Blakey (centre) is reportedly weighing up a trade. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Coach Dean Cox confirmed that despite being cleared of criminal conduct, Bice would remain suspended for the rest of the season.
“That’s one thing we spoke about at the start, the police investigation and behavioural nature of it were going to be separated,” he said.
The Swans are set to take on Brisbane in their qualifying final at the SCG.
Minus the five players, the 2024 runners-up are heavy underdogs against the two-time reigning premiers, despite playing at home.