Sydney will turn its attention to the AFL finals after capping off one of the most turbulent weeks in the club’s history with a commanding 53-point victory over North Melbourne.
The undermanned Swans pushed aside the turmoil surrounding the club to finish the home-and-away season on a high on Sunday, hours after their AFLW side defeated Essendon by 24 points in Sydney’s first men’s and women’s double-header.
The victory came just days after Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were suspended for the remainder of the season for “breaching club standards”.
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Those club-imposed sanctions are separate from an ongoing police investigation into sexual assault allegations relating to events at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne in the early hours of Monday.
No charges have been laid, and The Nightly is not suggesting any wrongdoing by the five suspended players.
While the police investigation continues, Sydney’s remaining players will now recover before beginning preparations for their qualifying final against Brisbane.
The Swans have the AFL wildcard round off, leaving them with almost two weeks to regroup before returning to the field.
“We’ll have a couple of recovery days in the next two or three days and then get back and train as hard as we possibly can,” coach Dean Cox said.
“The great thing is our VFL program is still going. They’ll go down and play Port Melbourne next weekend.
“We’ll be fully supportive of that and then have a good session over the weekend and attack next week.
“This week has all been about putting one foot in front of another and we’ve done that as well we possibly can.
“From there it’s about now looking at who we do play and then spending a lot of time trying to analyse a very good football team.”
Chairman Andrew Pridham warned last week that the five suspensions had “torpedoed” Sydney’s season, but confidence within the playing group remains high.
Charlie Curnow, who secured his third Coleman Medal on Sunday after a stellar first season with Sydney, insisted the Swans still believed they could make an impact in September.
“We’ve just got a lot of heart and we just want to put our eyes on that first final,” he said.
“It’s so special to show up in front of your home crowd and if we play the right way we can do anything.”
Cox was similarly bullish about his side’s chances.
“I don’t see this team being in a position where we don’t think we can win our first qualifying final.”
Captain Callum Mills was more measured when asked whether Sydney could go further than many now expect.
“We’ll find out,” he said.
And four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson warned the rest of the competition against assuming the depleted Swans were finished.
“Anything can happen in finals and if you’ve got a desire like they demonstrated today, then good luck anyone that takes them lightly,” the North Melbourne coach said.
“The whole football world has pretty much written them off and that’s when the Sydney Swans are at their most dangerous and they showed that today.
“I’d be writing them off at your peril.”
