Former Today show presenter Brooke Boney says she is ashamed to support the Sydney Swans following a police investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving five players in Melbourne.
The 39-year-old told The Sydney Morning Herald she shares the disgrace felt by the club over the alleged behaviour, which resulted in the players being stood down for the remainder of the 2026 Australian Football League season.
Players Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Riley Bice, Nick Blakey and James Jordon were suspended after the club found they breached standards by staying out late, drinking and bringing women to the Pullman East Melbourne hotel early on Monday morning.
Heeney is the focus of a Victoria Police investigation into an alleged sexual assault at the hotel. All five players have denied wrongdoing, and no charges have been laid.
"First and foremost, my thoughts are with the woman at the centre of these allegations and with anyone else affected by what has happened," Boney said.
"If the Swans' pride is my pride, then their shame must also be my shame. These allegations are especially painful because, for so many women, sexual violence is not an abstract issue. We have experienced it ourselves or watched people we love experience it."
Boney noted that one in five women in Australia has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15. She said the allegations were far more important than the impact on the football season.
"At a time when violence against women remains prevalent, when women are still fighting for equality on and off the field, this has to be bigger than what this means for the rest of the season. It is bigger than football and bigger than the club," Boney said.
Media figures condemn sports culture
Her comments follow similar criticism from media personality Abbie Chatfield, who condemned fans for worrying about the team's prospects rather than the alleged victim.
Chatfield said she was disturbed by the reaction from people associated with the AFL and astounded by the prioritisation of the game over the alleged incident itself.
"The focus that I've seen from people that are attached to the AFL is these men worrying about what this means for the season," Chatfield said.
She called on the AFL to publicly condemn violence, clarifying that she was not suggesting any player was guilty.
"There doesn't need to be an outright condemnation or assumption of guilt or declaration of guilt," she said. "But we see sportsmen in this country being upheld as gods, as though having a premiership title makes you the moral arbiter of the country."
Chatfield broadened her criticism to professional sports culture, stating there seemed to be a genuine fear among clubs, commentators and fans of calling out negative aspects of Australian football culture.
"Because regardless of this particular incident, there are many incidents of misogyny that we have seen in the AFL and the NRL and union teams as well," she said, referring to the National Rugby League and rugby union.
"There is a cultural issue in the AFL and there is this refusal to acknowledge it, it seems. The way that our country prioritises the deification of sports stars over the safety of those around sports stars... I'm exhausted by it."
Hotel disturbance prompts police response
The five Swans players allegedly took exotic dancers to one of their hotel rooms at about 4am on Monday for private lap dances.
A source told The Age newspaper that the players were in a room with naked women, with one performing lap dances, and that Heeney, who was clothed, was the subject of the complaint.
According to witnesses, two women approached hotel staff in a shared area at about 7am and demanded access to guest rooms. One woman was overheard telling staff she had been touched and felt overwhelmed while surrounded by several men in a room.
The Herald Sun reported that sources claimed the woman may have been locked out of the room, possibly naked, and was protesting that she had been violated. She reportedly approached a Swans official in the lobby to make a complaint and asked to retrieve her clothes from a floor that had been booked out by the club.
Police were called after one of the women ran into the hotel toilets crying.
Detectives from the Victoria Police sex crimes squad are expected to travel to Sydney to formally interview the players involved, after the woman at the centre of the allegations completed a formal complaint on Tuesday.
Detectives are understood to be focusing on the alleged actions of Heeney, who spoke with police on Monday before returning to Sydney. None of the players have been formally interviewed.
Club executives field drug questions
There are also allegations that cocaine and ketamine were used in the players' room.
Swans chair Andrew Pridham and chief executive Matthew Pavlich faced questions about illicit drug allegations at a media conference on Wednesday. A question about whether the players had been drug tested was quickly shut down.
"That's potentially part of the police matter, which we aren't going to go near," Pavlich said.
The alleged victim is understood to have done extensive modelling and has a strong social media following. High profile figures have publicly expressed support for her.
On Wednesday night, friends of the woman defended her online after a social media account criticised her. One friend stated she was right to call out behaviour that crossed the line and criticised the detractor for showing a lack of respect.
The Sydney Swans issued a joint apology on behalf of the suspended players on Wednesday evening, accepting the club sanction.
"We are deeply sorry to everyone involved," the statement read. "We know that our behaviour has fallen well short of the standards expected of us and the values of our club.
"We know we have let down our partners and families, members, supporters, teammates, the AFLW team, corporate partners and everyone at the club and the wider community. We accept the club sanction and apologise for the impact this has had on those involved. Our focus will now be on rebuilding trust with the club and the community."
