From Swans to the AFL’s ugly ducklings: Sydney’s shame is no one-off

That the Sydney Swans have vowed to change, to repair the damage wrought by the Pullman hotel scandal and Tom Papley’s alleged drug offence, confirms that they know something is genuinely amiss in their playing group.

One way to view their far-reaching “examination” is that it represents a kind of cultural audit in which they are seeking to answer to this question – What are the underlying factors that have seen senior players make such poor and reckless choices?

Papley’s roadside drug test failure – the outcome of which is yet to be verified by a secondary sample – can be a positive for the Swans, so to speak, if it forces them to confront the root causes of the Pullman fiasco.

Until Papley’s arrest, it was possible for the club to consider the Pullman as an anomaly – players took liberties, made terrible and unprofessional choices and embarrassed themselves and the club (and possibly crossed legal and ethical lines), but that this was out of collective character.

When the Swans responded so magnificently to the Pullman scandal on the field, by slaying the Brisbane Lions in that extraordinary qualifying final and then running Fremantle to the wire in the prelim, despite a scandal-depleted side, it was natural to think that their stirring response, not the Pullman, demonstrated their true cultural colours.

The hierarchy’s handling of the Pullman was powerful, too, in that, as chairman Andrew Pridham rightly asserted, they had been willing to torpedo their finals campaign by suspending the five for the remainder of the season.

Commendably, they did not follow the expedient old-school footy club script for scandals, in which players would have missed only one or two games (or none) when the grail was within their grasp.

It’s worth noting that Papley himself was outstanding in the upset of the Lions, booting five goals. The same senior player who summoned his best in September has subsequently embarrassed everyone with a poor choice (allegedly).

Herein lies the critical distinction that the Swans must surely understand now if they didn’t previously: That committed performance on the field isn’t necessarily conducive to the best behaviours or culture in the outside world.

Footy is replete with the mythology that great teams and players carry some moral purpose, that successful teams – and the Swans are relatively successful, albeit without a recent flag – win games and finals because they have a “good culture”, led by senior players who set foundational standards and lead them not into temptation.

Geelong people sometimes spruiked a culture of “character over talent”, which this column considers to be bunkum. The cultural strength of the Cats, as with Collingwood, has been their competitive ethos. They have senior players who refuse to accept defeat. This does not mean they all refuse a drink card or quick buck.

The truth is that, just as Shane Warne’s wizardry was immune to whatever missteps he made in his life, football performance is not reflective of cleanskin behaviours outside the field.

It is possible for a team to party hard and still perform. Indeed, there’s a possibility that the Swans’ (relative) success can lead players to entitlement, which, in turn, can spawn a feeling of invincibility, leading you to a hotel room with topless dancers, and whatever mood-altering substances were present (certainly alcohol), at 5am.

Wisely, the Sydney board and CEO Matthew Pavlich have engaged an external company, Intersection, to assist them in their examination of club culture, and it is not confined to just the men’s players. They are speaking to the AFLW cohort and commercial partners - some of whom need reassurance.

Another scandal could well cost the Swans millions, just as the Pullman has cost Isaac Heeney a pretty penny in sponsorship.

Many of the celebrated club reviews - Geelong (2006), Richmond (2016), Collingwood (2018) - have been focused on the playing group’s failures to achieve their potential, under-performances that were overcome by changes.

This examination (the club is avoiding the R word, review) differs in that the Swans are canvassing other stakeholders. It is not simply about extracting the best output from players on the field.

Underlying the club’s self-examination is the fact that the Swans are a distinctive club, with different needs to the majority of AFL clubs.

Consider the following unique traits of the Swans:

1. They play in a market where the AFL is not followed so intensely, where it is entertainment more than a binding faith. Players in Randwick and Coogee are left alone and can (and do) have a drink without repercussions.

2. They have a more educated, affluent fan base, in inner Sydney and consequently have more female engagement and a more progressive social flavour (see Pride games).

3. Their AFLW team attracts more interest - crowds are exceptional - and is more central to the club than at many rivals.

4. They have made a virtue, and profited from their purported contrast with the NRL clubs, who are viewed as more old-world and scandal-prone.

To own a fan base that values women – and is less apt to accept the “boys will be boys” excuses – creates a higher demand for more respectful behaviours in that realm; at Sydney, there was immediate condemnation from a hefty section of members when the Pullman incident erupted.

The Sydney hierarchy thus will have to consider whether their men’s playing group is capable of meeting the club’s broader values, in which good citizenship - respectful treatment of women, avoidance of drugs and excessive alcohol consumption and associated anti-social behaviours - is elevated.

Given that three of the Pullman five and Papley are/were among their most valuable and elite players (counting Nick Blakey), it’s reasonable to question whether there’s a gaping leadership deficit, outside of skipper Callum Mills, who rose to the moment post-Pullman and whose season-long absence due to injury will be a major challenge.

Sydney doesn’t need to repair what happens in those two and half crowded hours each week during the AFL season.

As with the West Coast Eagles of 2007-08, whose issues (drugs mainly) were far more serious, as Dean Cox would know, and were willing to sacrifice a ladder position in the short-term and some of whom suffered long-term fallout, the change the Swans desire won’t be measured in wins and losses.

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Jake Niall is a Walkley award-winning sports journalist and chief AFL writer for The Age.Connect via X or email.