Good afternoon, it’s Jonathan Drennan and I will be bringing you through all of today’s action from the SCG after a tumultuous week for the Sydney Swans football club.
I will be joined by my colleagues Vince Rugari and Clare Sibthorpe who are also at the stadium.
Today was meant to be a day of celebration. It was the first time the club’s AFL and AFLW teams shared a doubleheader at the SCG and just the second time the women’s squad has played at the stadium.
Instead, the Swans had arguably the worst week in their history after five Swans players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice – were suspended from play for the rest of this year for their part in the incident that unfolded in a Pullman East Melbourne hotel room in the early hours of last Monday.
There are high hopes that the Swans AFLW team will break their home attendance record of 8264, which was set in their first game at North Sydney Oval in 2022.