{"id":912689,"date":"2026-10-01T21:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/912689\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T21:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T21:36:12","slug":"isaac-heeney-cant-wait-to-resume-afl-career-after-suspension-for-hotel-incident-sydney-swans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/912689\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaac Heeney \u2018can\u2019t wait\u2019 to resume AFL career after suspension for hotel incident | Sydney Swans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Isaac Heeney says he \u201ccan\u2019t wait\u201d to continue his AFL career at the Sydney Swans<\/a> after the midfielder was crowned the club\u2019s best and fairest player.<\/p>\n

In a two-minute pre-recorded video to mark the 30-year-old\u2019s third Bob Skilton medal, Heeney voiced his determination to resurrect his playing career after serving a club-imposed suspension<\/a> throughout finals.<\/p>\n

Swans vice-captain Heeney had requested to skip the club\u2019s Thursday night function at Sydney town hall alongside teammates Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice.<\/p>\n

The five were stood down <\/a>from August to the end of the Swans\u2019 finals campaign for breaching club standards after a post-AFL match party at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Those suspensions are separate from an ongoing police investigation into an alleged sexual assault at the hotel.<\/p>\n

Detectives in early September travelled to NSW to interview a 30-year-old Maroubra man, a 25-year-old Paddington man and two Randwick men aged 25 and 26.<\/p>\n

It is understood the men interviewed were Heeney, Warner, Jordon and Blakey.<\/p>\n

No charges have been laid. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of the suspended players.<\/p>\n

All five players are contracted for next year, with Heeney signed until the end of 2028.<\/p>\n

In the pre-recorded video, Heeney offered an apology to teammates and colleagues at the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was told about this honour, it was the first time I\u2019ve smiled and felt positive about the future for a long time,\u201d Heeney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was unable to attend the awards, I look forward to seeing you all again in person very soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say to everyone, in particular my teammates, the Swans players of the AFLW and the staff, from the depths of my heart, I\u2019m truly sorry for putting you through the extreme difficulty you\u2019ve had to endure.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single day I was away from the club was heartbreaking \u2026 I want my actions moving forward to show how much this place and its people mean to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly excited about what this group can do. I can\u2019t wait to get back and train with the boys, get better and attack next year together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old received ample applause and a partial standing ovation from the room of nearly 500 people.<\/p>\n

Callum Mills accepted the honour on Heeney\u2019s behalf at the awards night, describing it as \u201cunprecedented times\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a 15-minute opening speech, Swans chair Andrew Pridham said the group \u201cstrenuously denied\u201d the sexual assault allegations and highlighted the five players\u2019 right to the presumption of innocence.<\/p>\n

This comment was met with applause, with one fan yelling: \u201cAbsolutely!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all of us in this room have made mistakes at times in our lives,\u201d Pridham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we said at the time, this decision [the suspensions] reflected only on their breach of club standards and behaviour.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt no time have we made any judgment on the allegations made to the police. This is a separate matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as we know, the players have strenuously denied the allegations \u2026 Likewise, the players involved will respect and continue to apply the basic right of presumption of innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Isaac Heeney says he \u201ccan\u2019t wait\u201d to continue his AFL career at the Sydney Swans after the midfielder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":912690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-912689","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\/912689","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=912689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}