‘Unacceptable and must change’: Swans hierarchy apologise, detail review into their AFL program

The Sydney Swans’ hierarchy has vowed to repair the club’s reputation after yet another incident involving a senior player.

Club chairman Andrew Pridham and chief executive Matthew Pavlich have apologised to the club’s members “for the distress recent incidents involving players from the club have caused”.

The Swans’ hierarchy was reacting to the latest revelation that star forward Tom Papley had tested positive to an illicit drug when he was pulled over for an expired drivers’ licence.

In a letter to members just released, the Swans’ leaders outlined how they had taken “a comprehensive examination of the club’s AFL program”, which will be completed by the end of the year.

This process involves interviews with all AFL players and staff by the chief executive and the board, the club’s end of year annual review, and an independent expert advising the club on correct protocols. The company hired for this is Intersection, led by Natasha de Silva.

“What is already clear from our work to-date is that the actions and attitudes of some within our club has damaged and diminished the many great things we do, and the great people who do them. This is unacceptable and must change,” the letter to members said.

“We have a long and proud history but clearly, we have work to do to get back to the standards we have long set. We will make the necessary changes that are required and will work to be better.”

The club’s hierarchy also acknowledged the impact on the club’s AFLW players and staff as they prepare for an elimination final against the Western Bulldogs this weekend.

The AFL is not expected to take punitive action against Papley for allegedly driving under the influence of an illicit drug until police confirm the second sample for presence of the drug.

As Pavlich earlier on Thursday said the Swans were “bitterly disappointed”, sources familiar with the league’s position said that the AFL and the Swans intended to wait until the results of the secondary sample taken at the scene by police (often called the “B sample”) were determined.

Papley tested positive to methylamphetamine when he was pulled over by police for a roadside drug test, caused by the suspension of his licence for unpaid parking fines.

While the Swans and the AFL await confirmation of the positive result, a source familiar with Papley’s explanation said he had paid the parking fines over the weekend, but that he had been pulled over by NSW Police because his licence was suspended on October 29 (last Thursday).

Papley had paid the fines shortly after returning from overseas, but he did not call Service NSW to register the payment, which was in the backlog of late payment fees. Consequently, his licence was cancelled one day before he was pulled over.

The AFL is conscious that an NRL player, Josh Addo-Carr, had a false positive test for illicit drugs and does not intend to rush any potential sanction until police have completed their process and the secondary test finding has been made.

The standard punishment for a player whose alleged drug use enters the public domain is a two-match ban, as evident with Jack Ginnivan and Bailey Smith at their previous clubs and most recently with Carlton’s Lachie Cowan, who was taken to hospital by ambulance last month.

The Papley incident has exasperated the Swans, given that it follows the Pullman Hotel scandal, in which five current players (Papley not being one of them) were present in the hotel room in an incident in which some of the women, exotic dancers, alleged inappropriate touching, prompting a police investigation that is ongoing.

Vice captain Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice were stood down from round 24 and the club’s two finals for what the Swans termed a “serious breach of expected club behaviour and standards”. Those AFL-endorsed club bans were separate from the ongoing police investigation.

Police have already indicated Bice is being treated as witness.

The players have denied wrongdoing from the incident, which is also subject to potential civil legal action by the women.

All-Australian defender Blakey, who was unhappy with the club over the portrayal of his involvement in the Pullman scandal, has since been traded to North Melbourne and signed a contract worth close to $12 million over eight years.

Speaking briefly to reporters on Thursday at the club’s Moore Park base, Pavlich issued an “unreserved apology” to members, fans and corporate partners for “letting them down again”.

“We’re obviously bitterly disappointed that we’re here talking about this today,” Pavlich said.

“We’re really disappointed in Tom, himself – we voiced that pretty directly to him yesterday.

“We apologise unreservedly to our members, fans and corporate partners – we’ve let them down again. We must be better. It’s a really disappointing time for the footy club.

“But given this is a police matter we cannot make any further comment until such time that the secondary sample comes through, and that test is verified. We’ll work through that process over the next period, and we’ll update everyone after that.”

Asked whether the latest incident was further evidence of a cultural issue at the club, Pavlich acknowledged the club had to do better.

“I think we’re looking at that right now,” he said. “We’ve been identifying that over the last eight weeks. We’ve started some deep work in that with our AFL men’s department, independent advisors helping us through that. But they’re the questions that we’re asking ourselves right now, and asking our players.

“We’ll continue to update everyone about that, and probably later today. We need to be better. This is not something that anyone is stopping short of knowing that we’ve got a long way to go, and we’ve got some deep work to do to understand how we get better for the future.”

The Swans’ latest scandal will further stretch the patience of the club’s sponsors, with Pavlich admitting they were “angry”.

“We’ve spoken to a number of them across this last period. We’re staying connected to them. They’re disappointed, they’re angry, [but] they’re supportive. They know that over a long period of time that the club has upheld really high standards, and I can guarantee them and everyone we’ll continue to do that,” he said.

Papley’s positive test to methylamphetamine comes after teammate Caiden Cleary received a two-match ban in 2025 for illicit drug possession. In a statement at the time, the club said it was “extremely disappointed and does not condone nor tolerate illicit drug behaviour.” Cleary played 11 games last season for the Swans, including the preliminary and qualifying finals.

In 2024, Swans AFLW players Alexia Hamilton and Paige Sheppard also received two-match bans after being found guilty of possessing an illegal drug. Then Swans chief executive, and current chief operating officer of the AFL, Tom Harley said after those bans were handed down: “Our football club has standards of behaviour that we expect all our people to live up to, this behaviour has fallen short of those standards”.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.