Sydney are highly unlikely to be returning to the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne if they qualify for next week’s grand final.
The Brisbane Lions are staying at the Pullman this week for their preliminary final with Hawthorn and were also based at the venue for their premiership last year. An industry source with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chris Fagan’s men are highly likely to return to the venue in grand final week, should they qualify.
The AFL does not usually book two clubs at the same accommodation simultaneously due to the logistical challenges for hotel staff to satisfy the specific catering needs of two large groups.
It’s unclear if the Swans would be deliberately avoiding a return to the hotel, the scene of the scandal that rocked the AFL on the eve of the finals last month.
Star trio Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey and Chad Warner, along with James Jordon and Riley Bice, were handed season-ending suspensions by the Swans for failing to meet the club’s standards by drinking, partying late and bringing exotic dancers back to the Pullman after their round 23 win over Essendon.
Four of the players – Heeney, Warner, Blakey and Jordon – are persons of interest in a police investigation from the night after three women alleged they were sexually assaulted and touched inappropriately without consent.
Three other men in the room – including Bice, recently retired Swan Taylor Adams and a mystery man – are now considered to be witnesses to the pre-dawn events.
This masthead revealed earlier this month that the five suspended Sydney players, all of whom have denied criminal wrongdoing, will have to foot their own substantial legal fees for their roles in the Pullman hotel episode.
The Swans are yet to make a call on whether the suspended five will remain eligible for the club’s best-and-fairest award, which will be presented at a function in Sydney on Thursday, October 1 – just days after the grand final on September 26.
Heeney, Warner and Blakey are all expected to feature prominently in voting, despite missing the Swans’ past two matches. It has not yet been determined if the players would be invited, while it is also unclear if they would be ready to return to the club.
Best-and-fairest nights are typically a celebration of a club’s season. Sydney awards have previously been presented by club legend Bob Skilton (or a family representative) and Adam Goodes, who have medals struck in their honour.
The Swans players are eligible to win the Brownlow Medal, to be presented on Monday night next week, but Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos is the hottest of hot favourites to win the award.
With Christine Lacy
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