John Longmire responds to revelation of Sydney Swans sexual assault allegations, player bans, Bloods culture, AFL 360 video, latest news

Sydney premiership coach John Longmire conceded the Swans’ culture has “taken a big hit”.

It comes after five Sydney players were suspended for the rest of the season for their behaviour prior and separate to an alleged sexual assault incident at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne early Monday morning.

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Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice won’t play again this year for the Swans, with the club’s suspension measures independent of an ongoing Victoria Police investigation.

They’re also out of All-Australian contention.

A dejected Longmire, now the Swans’ executive director of club performance, told AFL 360 on Wednesday night he’d been left “incredibly disappointed” by the saga.

“I can’t comment on the specifics of the incident or what happened, but it’s been incredibly tough for everyone involved,” he said on Fox Footy.

“Both closely associated with it, and as you get further and further out with the layers that are involved in this.

“To say that it’s been a challenging few days would be a huge understatement.”

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But it was his concession that the Swans’ revered ‘Bloods culture’ had been dented that was most telling.

“A lot of people, not just me but a lot of people, that have been involved in this club … for a long period of time have been really proud of that (culture),” he said.

“The culture of the footy club, it’s taken a big hit. It’s taken a big hit.

“It’ll take time for everyone to rebuild the trust in the football club, and that’s what the intention of everyone is to do, to get to work and rebuild the trust in the football club.”

Asked if he’d been left wondering about the culture’s fragility, Longmire said: “I’ve certainly been one to profess that not every organisation is perfect, but we hopefully make more right decisions than wrong ones.

“And in the end, we’re dealing with humans, and not everyone gets things right.

“And trying to deal with that on a daily basis over a long period of time, we generally think things have been right for a long time, but we also haven’t got things right, like any organisation.

“Everyone’s human; everyone makes mistakes. This is a big one, and we’ll have to learn from it and get to work on rebuilding the trust.”

Gerard Whateley asked the 14-year former Swans mentor whether the recent days had been amongst his worst in footy.

“Yeah,” Longmire said. “I’m not just speaking for myself, but speaking for a number of people closely associated with this club.

“There’s not many that you think you could compare to this.”

Longmire coached Sydney in 333 games between 2011 and 2024. He coached Heeney for 10 seasons, Blakey for six, and Warner for five.

He said that, like the people closest to the players, he had “mixed emotions” including “anger” towards them.

“I guess I’d be like the players’ partners or families — you go from shock and disappointment, maybe even a bit of anger in that, a bit of those emotions,” Longmire said.

“But then you try and get back to the … you also care about people. Trying to get that balance right is very tricky.

“So the shock and disappointment of the Sunday night, and then understanding that you also want to care for people that are going through the most stressful of times.

“Trying to get that balance is a challenge for everyone, but you try and let everyone go through it and work there, and you try and just be there as much as you can.

“There’s no doubt that shock, disappointment and anger is part of it, but so is care … the mixed emotions going through everyone’s body at the moment.”

Longmire said that like most people, shock was his first reaction upon learning of what had happened.

“It took a while for that to sink in, and then incredible disappointment, and then just deep sadness,” he said.

“I guess, like everybody, whether you’re closely connected to this, or further out in the layers, or you’re a supporter or member, the emotions I don’t think have to be guessed too much.

“Those emotions were all a part of it; it was just incredible, deep sadness in the end, and that’s probably where we’re still sitting.”

The 56-year-old talked through the Swans bosses’ process before arriving at the sanction they revealed on Wednesday morning.

“It’s a really difficult position to be in for anybody, to be able to weigh up all the associated parties to this,” Longmire said.

“First and foremost, it was the care for the people involved, then partners, families, and trying to get that balance right — supporters, members, corporate partners.

“There’s just so many layers to it, and trying to get it all right has been the clear focus on what we’ve been trying to do over the last couple of days.

“Understanding that everyone’s going to feel a little bit differently about it, everyone’s going to sit in it a little bit differently, and we have to respect that as well.”

Asked about the on-field repercussions of the club’s action, Longmire was quick to point out that the “football aspirations weren’t part of the discussions”.

“They were very much in the background. The forefront were people issues, as they should have been,” Longmire said.

“The people issues are the things that have really led the discussions over the last few days, and where people sat.

“From there, we work our way out. The football and premiership discussions were at the very back end of anything that was talked about.

“There were much bigger priorities in what happened over the last few days than the football discussions.”

The Swans go into the final round of the home-and-away season locked into second spot on the ladder, preparing for two home finals.

But without Heeney, Warner and Blakey in particular — all ranked inside the top 20 for AFL Rating this season — Sydney’s premiership chances are suddenly grim.

“It’s flattening for a lot of people; the coach, the captain, the players — men’s and women’s — partners, families,” Longmire said.

“It’s flattening for everybody. It’s a challenge for everybody to be able to get through and be able to put one foot in front of the other and get things right.

“We feel for everybody that’s involved in this, either closely or further out, and then we look at our supporters and members and feel deeply for them.”