{"id":862486,"date":"2026-08-20T22:10:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/862486\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:10:13","slug":"afl-news-2026-sydney-swans-investigation-dyson-heppell-instagram-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/862486\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Sydney Swans investigation; Dyson Heppell Instagram video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dyson Heppell<\/a> has taken to Instagram to address the Victoria Police<\/a> investigation into Sydney Swans<\/a> players, relating to allegations of sexual assault<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The former Essendon<\/a> captain posted a video on social media after five players \u2013 Isaac Heeney<\/a>, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, James Jordon and Riley Bice \u2013 were stood down by the Swans for the rest of 2026 after breaching club standards<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dyson Heppell on Instagram.\u00a0Instagram<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au is not suggesting any of the players who have been stood down have been accused of sexual assault or charged by police, just that they have been linked to an investigation relating to an incident at a Melbourne hotel.<\/p>\n

Heppell, who played 253 games for the Bombers, explained he understood the environment that can exist in a professional sports team and made it clear that women should be treated with respect in that environment. <\/p>\n

\u201cI feel I have to talk to the current situation for a quick minute now,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201c[I have] been around footy, sporting teams and that type of environment for a big part of my life. I get it, I get the banter, I get the pressure, I get the expectations and I get the type of environment that can exist inside sporting teams. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut there is one thing that should never, that should never be complicated, and it\u2019s that women deserve to feel safe, that they deserve respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever the outcome of this current situation, I think it\u2019s an important moment for every man involved in sport or not to have a good look at himself. Being a footballer, being in a team, being with your mates, being drunk, carrying on after a win, none of these things change the responsibility we have to respect women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heppell continued to say there\u2019s an onus on individuals to speak up when they observe a friend\u2019s behaviour overstepping the mark. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a good bloke isn\u2019t just about how you treat your teammates, it\u2019s about how you treat women and especially when nobody is watching,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about recognising when someone is feeling uncomfortable, stepping in when your mate crosses the line. It\u2019s about having the courage to call out the behaviour that isn\u2019t right. Especially, when it is your mate. We talk about building cultures in footy and this is what culture looks like, it\u2019s not protecting your mates at all costs, it\u2019s not laughing something off or looking the other way, it\u2019s respect, it\u2019s accountability. It\u2019s doing the right thing when it matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the women and the girls who are part of the football community and women in general, you deserve nothing less. Men have a responsibility to be better. We can\u2019t just say we respect women, we have to show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heppell captained the Bombers from 2017 to 2022 and now works at Collingwood as a development coach. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dyson Heppell has taken to Instagram to address the Victoria Police investigation into Sydney Swans players, relating to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-862486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}