Sydney Swans leaders Dean Cox and Callum Mills admit club is in the dark over aspects of alleged scandal: ‘Still trying’

Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox and captain Callum Mills admit they are still in the dark about aspects of the hotel scandal as they concede the team’s culture “has taken a massive hit”.

Speaking at a formal press conference for the first time since Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were suspended for breaching team standards, the leaders said they had had “extremely hard” conversations with the five players.

Cox conceded he had not thought about football once this week but the pair both hoped the AFL team would be able to “bind together to be better for this”.

“We all have women in our lives we deeply love. I would like to express that respect for women is of the highest priority for both myself personally and our football club,” Cox began.

“We have some fantastic women working in our football club, both in the AFLW program and on staff, and our thoughts are with them and I apologise to them, along with the women in the community, for the actions of the players.

“We are extremely disappointed at the actions of the players and the sanctions imposed by the board show that how serious we take these matters to those women involved. I hope everyone is getting the support they need.

“A culture isn’t perfect. One thing that we do know is our culture has taken a hit. The thing you need to understand about a culture is how you respond and the actions you take following being hit.

“We are going to work through, and as hard as we possibly can, to get the trust back from the community, to get to the culture where we’re desired to be, where we once have been.”

While both Cox and Mills repeatedly batted away questions because of the police investigation, the coach said the Swans are still trying to get to the bottom of the situation.

“I wasn’t in the room,” Cox confirmed while adding he was “unaware” who else was beyond the five players.

Asked if other staff members were, he said: “I cannot comment on what happened in the room, it is a police investigation. So we’re still trying to find out information as well.”

Victorian sex crime detectives have travelled to Sydney to interview the five players, who are helping with inquiries. No charges have been laid.

7NEWS does not suggest that any of the players were involved in any untoward behaviour, but that there are allegations of sexual misconduct.

Cox said he had spoken with the playing group after the game against Essendon last Sunday “about what’s required to make the right decisions” before their Monday morning flight home.