AFL stand-down policy plea as heat intensifies on Sydney Swans

The AFL is being urged to implement a no-fault stand-down policy, as leaders blast the Sydney Swans for “glossing over” sexual assault allegations.

Victoria Police attended a Melbourne hotel on Monday and said they were investigating a report of sexual assault in the early hours of the morning.

On Wednesday it was announced five Swans players — Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner — will not be picked for the rest of the season , after the club ruled them out for breaching club standards and behaviours.

Sydney stressed the suspensions were independent of the police investigation, where no players have been charged with any offence.

But NSW Premier Chris Minns suggested the AFL needs to follow the NRL in implementing a no-fault stand-down policy to send a message to society that the organisation is taking potential criminal matters seriously.

The NRL’s policy means any player charged with an offence that carries a maximum jail term of more than 11 years is automatically stood down.

Competition executives can also stand down players charged with other crimes on a discretionary basis, usually matters of violence against women.

“Organisations can’t be seen to be getting on as if it’s business as usual when the gravity of (potential) charges are so serious,” Mr Minns told ABC Radio Sydney.

“It’s not so you can keep your reputation as a family-friendly club … it’s so if there are potential victims, they feel like they’re being listened to, and the consequences of the alleged actions being taken seriously.”

Of course, no Sydney player has been charged with any offence, meaning no automatic stand-down would have yet been triggered.

The AFL did stand down Geelong’s Tanner Bruhn for an entire year, however, charges against him were later dropped when the woman who made the accusations admitted she lied.

The Swans are also attracting heat in Canberra, where one of the federal government’s most senior women — Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek — was scathing in her criticism of Sydney chief executive Matthew Pavlich.

Providing the club’s first public statement on the allegations on Monday afternoon, Pavlich said the players had “found themselves in a situation”.

“The Swans called an alleged sexual assault a ‘situation’ ... as though it was something they stumbled across,” Plibersek wrote on Facebook.