The elephant in the room: How Brownlow Medal night handled the suspended Swans

Whenever any suspended member from the Sydney Swans featured in the 2026 Brownlow Medal count, it attracted the same reaction: complete silence.

Isaac Heeney and fellow Swans players Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon were stood down for the rest of the AFL season for breaching the club’s standards during a night at the Pullman Hotel last month after their side’s win over Essendon.

The suspended players were also banned from attending this year’s Brownlow count – even though they were eligible to win it. Heeney collected 26 votes to finish equal eighth on Monday night, despite favourite Nick Daicos winning the prestigious medal by a landslide with a record 47 votes.

There was silence followed by murmurs in the room at Crown Palladium when Heeney’s name was first read out during round four, with the Swans vice captain receiving two votes.

Warner, Blakey and Bice also received votes throughout the night.

There were notably no camera cuts to the Sydney table whenever a suspended player received a vote.

There were also no camera pans to other tables to gauge other guests’ reactions. Instead, whenever a suspended player’s name was read, the camera cut to a wide pan of the room.

There was also minimal to no footage of Heeney or other suspended players during the highlight recap of each round.

A source familiar with the broadcast planning said there was “no intention to exclude any individual player”, noting a “a very small number of key moments are selected to feature each round, and it’s just not possible to include every player/moment”.

Andrew Dillon chose to read the Brownlow votes at his normal trademark speedy pace.
However, unlike Daicos and Marcus Bontempelli – who regularly received whoops and cheers during their vote count – Heeney and other Swans players received steely silence, excluding the occasional singular clap.

Several Swans players attended the Brownlow ceremony including Charlie Curnow, Dane Rampe, Brodie Grundy, Logan McDonald and Tom McCartin, as well as coach Dean Cox. Each of them did minimal to no media interviews on the red carpet and slipped into the ballroom quickly.

It follows a sombre week for the Swans, who looked on track to reach the grand final after reaching a game-high 28-point lead in the third quarter of their preliminary final clash with Fremantle.

Instead, the Dockers launched the biggest three-quarter-time comeback in their history to snatch their place in the grand final.

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 October 1.

The Swans’ club-imposed suspensions were separate from a Victoria Police investigation into allegations of sexual assault at the Pullman. No charges have been laid.

Four of the five players – Heeney, Warner, Blakey and Jordon – remain persons of interest in the police investigation. Each of the players has engaged his own lawyer. Bice is being treated as a witness.