Major relief as Sydney superstar Isaac Heeney falls well short in Brownlow Medal count

The potential elephant in the room at the Brownlow Medal wasn’t at Crown Palladium at all.

The AFL had a contingency plan for if banned Swan Isaac Heeney won the game’s greatest individual honour, as they do for any contender who isn’t in the room, with Sydney CEO Matthew Pavlich prepared to read out a speech written by Heeney on his behalf.

But thanks to a record-breaking show from winner Nick Daicos, and prolific polling from Bailey Smith and Marcus Bontempelli, that never needed to come into play.

Sydney stars Heeney, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey were among the notable absences from Monday night’s awards ceremony.

Heeney, Warner, Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon have been absent from Sydney’s headquarters since being suspended by the AFL club in August.

The five were stood down for breaching club standards following a post-match party at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne following the club’s penultimate game of the home and away season.

Those suspensions are separate to a police investigation into sexual assault allegations, with Victoria Police flagging an update not expected until late October.

No charges have been laid, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of the five suspended players.

The five players were ruled ineligible for All-Australian honours and weren’t invited to the Brownlow function at Crown Palladium — but remained eligible for the award.

Daicos was the shortest-priced favourite in Brownlow Medal history and lived up to his billing with a runaway victory in the count, but if there was to be an upset, Heeney was considered a very outside chance to be among those who may have caused it.

But the league will have breathed a sigh of relief they dodged what would have been an awkward bullet, with Heeney finishing tied for eighth on 26 votes — a whopping 21 short of Daicos, who was 11 clear of his next closeset competitor.

Brodie Grundy, Charlie Curnow, Dane Rampe, Logan McDonald and Tom McCartin were among those on hand for the Swans.

Notably Errol Gulden was the star Swan referenced in introductions alongside other potential contenders, instead of Heeney or Warner, despite missing a large chunk of the season through injury.

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon also didn’t mention any of the banned Swans in his opening remarks.