{"id":863357,"date":"2026-08-21T15:58:45","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/863357\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T15:58:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T15:58:45","slug":"swans-set-to-be-sued-in-court-after-club-hit-back-at-allegations-leaders-were-in-hotel-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/863357\/","title":{"rendered":"Swans set to be sued in court after club hit back at allegations \u2018leaders\u2019 were in hotel room"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lawyers for two of the women involved in the Sydney Swans alleged sexual assault case are reportedly preparing to launch legal action in the Victorian Supreme Court against the five players and the club.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/sport\/afl\/women-at-centre-of-swans-saga-set-to-sue-stars-and-club-20260821-p60qe9.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">The Age<\/a> reported on Friday afternoon that a lawyer representing the two women said legal proceedings would be launched in the Common Law Division of the Victorian Supreme Court, with the women set to claim damages for pain and suffering, psychological injury and economic loss.<\/p>\n<p>\ufeffWatch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/afl?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkafl-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-afl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are currently investigating the circumstances and preparing to commence legal proceedings against the club and potentially the individuals involved,\u201d Manny Carbone, a partner at Carbone Lawyers, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur clients are extremely traumatised and feel that their dignity and personal rights have been seriously violated by the events of Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Friday, a lawyer representing two of the women involved in the Sydney Swans alleged sexual assault case has claimed that there were more men than banned quintet Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordan in the hotel room at the Pullman opposite the MCG.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to Melbourne radio station 3AW\u2019s Tom Elliott, Carbone Lawyers personal injury head John Karantzis said on Friday morning that that what happened to his clients was the most \u201cdisgusting and degrading\u201d thing he has heard in his near three-decade-long career.<\/p>\n<p>Mills supports sanctions to Swans 5 | 01:31<\/p>\n<p>Karantzis also claimed that \u201cleaders\u201d of the club were in the room in the early hours of Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith what has been alleged, these women were subject to the most disgusting actions and behaviour I have ever heard about in my 28 years as a lawyer,\u201d Karantzis told 3AW.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese women already have a difficult job and what they were subjected to is alleged, demeaning, abhorrent, and simply not moral or acceptable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re suffering severe stress and anxiety, they\u2019re actually fearing for their life at the moment. There\u2019s a lot of interest in this case and they are literally in hiding and they are suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Karantzis reiterated an allegation that things between the players and the women, one of whom was an exotic performer giving lap dancers, had gone further than agreed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnfortunately, that\u2019s the case, things did get out of hand. I can\u2019t go into details &#8230; however the line was crossed and unfortunately what they\u2019ve been subjected to I literally cannot say on the radio,\u201d he claimed.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE<\/p>\n<p>Wrap: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/afl\/afl-news-2026-sydney-swans-player-incident-latest-updates-victoria-police-investigating-sexual-assault-allegations-callum-mills-and-dean-cox-press-conference\/news-story\/197f2b683748c14b4923be3d28e07d3b\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Swans captain and coach speak out on alleged sexual assault scandal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\ufeff\u2018All I care about is justice\u2019: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com.au\/afl\/afl-news-2026-sydney-swans-player-incident-latest-updates-victoria-police-investigating-sexual-assault-allegations-callum-mills-and-dean-cox-press-conference\/news-story\/197f2b683748c14b4923be3d28e07d3b\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Alleged victim in Swans saga speaks amid \u2018nine men\u2019, drug claims<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Victim of alleged sexual assault speaks | 03:57<\/p>\n<p>Elliott asked Karantzis about the number of men in the room, and their identities, to which the lawyer replied: \u201cIt\u2019s more than five (men in the room), that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than five men and it\u2019s alleged that there were even a few leaders in that room,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Elliott then asked whether Karantzis meant coaches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t say in concern to that, that is for the Sydney Swans to say,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n<p>Swans\u2019 men\u2019s head coach Dean Cox told reporters, \u201cI was not in the room\u201d, as he and men\u2019s captain Callum Mills spoke to the media on outside Sydney\u2019s headquarters on Friday morning.<\/p>\n<p>It was reported on Thursday night that up to nine men were in the room, with claims that drugs were present. In terms of \u201cleaders\u201d known to be present, Heeney \u2014 who has been named as central to the alleged incident \u2014 is the Swans vice-captain.<\/p>\n<p>The Swans have since released a statement disputing Karantzis\u2019 claim, and other reports claiming that club figures beyond the five players were present.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Sydney Swans can confirm that all investigations carried out by the Club have consistently indicated that the only representatives of the Club in the room central to the police investigation were the five players who have been stood down,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have every reason to consider that reports to the contrary are simply false.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are respecting the process with the relevant authorities and will refrain from commenting on Police matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would also like to take this opportunity to condemn some of the misinformation being reported and are now considering our legal position on those matters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of the fallout to the Swans hotel room incident, triple premiership Cat Tom Hawkins delivered a powerful message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been nothing short of a debacle, and I won\u2019t touch on the alleged allegations of what went on, but it is becoming a bit of a societal issue treatment towards women, in particular by men,\u201d Hawkins told Fox Footy on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019ve got a duty as a code and a responsibility as leaders within the game, particularly as players, to really try and champion that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know, I\u2019m a father that\u2019s got two daughters, I\u2019ve got sisters. So when I think about it through that lens, it\u2019s really troublesome.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think they\u2019ve been strong and confronted what has been the issues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI liked what Callum (Mills) came forward and said, but there\u2019s still a hell of a lot to play out from a Sydney Swans point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Follow all the latest developments and reaction in our blog below.<\/p>\n<p>If you can\u2019t see the blog, <a href=\"https:\/\/go.arena.im\/live\/fox-sports-australia\/gyYDBAA?v=2\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">tap here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lawyers for two of the women involved in the Sydney Swans alleged sexual assault case are reportedly preparing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-863357","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\/863357","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=863357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}