Sydney Swans deny club representatives, apart from five banned players, were in Melbourne hotel room

Sydney coach Dean Cox has refused to reveal whether Swans staff were in the room at a Melbourne hotel at the centre of a police investigation.

Vice-captain Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Riley Bice, James Jordon and Nick Blakey have been stood down by the club for breaching behavioural standards.

Independent of those sanctions, Victoria police are investigating reports of an alleged sexual assault incident at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel in the early hours of Monday morning.

This masthead is not suggesting the players are guilty of any wrongdoing, just that they are assisting police with inquiries.

On Thursday night, 7News reported that as many as nine men, including former players, were in the room where cocaine was allegedly snorted off women’s breasts and buttocks.

In a press conference on Friday morning alongside Sydney captain Callum Mills, Cox was asked directly if any other Swans staff were present, aside from the five players.

When pressed on the matter, Cox said: “That’s a police investigation. So all that will be brought out in due course.”

When pressed a third time, he later added: “As part of the investigation, I’m unaware of that. And it is an investigation we have to let the police do their job and work through. So that’s what we need to do. And respectively, we have to do that.”

When asked directly if he was present in the room, Cox paused before declaring: “I wasn’t in the room”.