Swans make ‘best and fairest’ call on banned players

Sydney stars Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey remain eligible to win the Swans’ best and fairest award this season despite their role in the Pullman hotel scandal last month.

The Swans have opted against scrubbing any of their five suspended players from claiming the club’s highest individual honour, the Bob Skilton Medal, which will be awarded at a function on Thursday night.

But Heeney, Warner, Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice will not be attending the ceremony, the Swans said in a statement.

The five players returned to the club for the first time this week since they were suspended for their involvement in a wild night of partying at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel after the Swans’ victory over Essendon in round 23.

Heeney is a genuine contender to be crowned club champion for the third season in a row despite missing the final three games of the Swans’ campaign.

The gun midfielder was comfortably the highest-polling Swan in this week’s Brownlow Medal count, finishing equal eighth with 26 votes. The next Swans player was Errol Gulden, who polled 17 votes from 13 games.

Blakey and Warner are also expected to feature prominently in voting.

“Eligibility and voting criteria for the Bob Skilton Medal remains unchanged from previous years,” the club said in a statement released on Friday.

“All players who represented the club in season 2026 will be eligible.

“However, we can confirm Nick Blakey, Riley Bice, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner have requested not to attend the awards night, and this has been agreed to by the club.”

The decision to allow the five not to attend the function gives the Swans the opportunity to celebrate their season without it being overshadowed by last month’s controversy.

The players were handed season-ending suspensions by the Swans for breaching club standards.