Former AFL Women’s star Kate McCarthy has questioned the tone of some of the media coverage around an ongoing police investigation involving Sydney Swans players.
Four Swans players — Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, James Jordon and Riley Bice — are understood to be linked to a Victoria Police investigation regarding an alleged sexual assault at the hotel where the team was staying on Sunday night.
“The exact circumstances are yet to be established and the investigation into the incident remains ongoing,” Victoria Police said.
“Police spoke to a number of people at the hotel, however no-one has been arrested or formally interviewed at this time.”
News of the allegations yesterday sent shock waves through the league, naturally filling the slates of news bulletins and AFL panel shows.
On Channel Seven’s Agenda Setters, former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes spoke from “the football point of view” of the issue, saying the players’ lack of consideration for their teammates “is what makes [him] so angry”.
(Clockwise from top left) James Jordon, Riley Bice, Chad Warner and Isaac Heeney. (ABC News/ Getty Images)
“This is where I get really angry from a football point of view,” he said.
“When you’re two weeks away from a finals series, when Dane Rampe has played in four losing grand finals and he’s probably in bed at age 36 or at home right now going, ‘This is my last chance, I’m 36, I had a chance to finish second and host another home final, give myself one last chance at winning a premiership’.
“[Jake] Lloyd’s played in four losing grand finals, Heeney himself has played in three. … You’d think it would mean a bit more to Isaac Heeney … on the eve of a finals series and put your teammates and your team in jeopardy.”
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On Fox Footy, Melbourne great Garry Lyon said he did not want to “understate or downplay the seriousness of” the case, insisting he could “only really comment on the one side and that is football-related matters”.
“The rest will sort themselves out and again, that’s not to dismiss all parties involved in this, so let’s get that on the table,” he said.
“What we can discuss is the ramifications from a football point of view and this is an unmitigated disaster for the Sydney Swans and for the game.
“Those pictures on the eve of the AFL finals series with plain clothes [police] and police cars outside a hotel room one week out from the finals series is an absolute disaster.”
McCarthy, now a commentator for Seven and Triple M, said focusing on “the football consequences” for the team caused by any potential sanctions or distractions sent the wrong message, particularly to girls and women.
Kate McCarthy says the focus should not be on “the football consequences” of the police investigation. (Getty Images: Hancock)
The former Lion, Saint and Hawk also took issue with Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich saying the club was “extremely shocked and disappointed that this has taken place and that the players have found themselves in this situation”.
“AFL players occupy positions of enormous influence. We celebrate them as role models when they do wonderful things in the community, we can’t suddenly decide they’re ‘just footballers’ when difficult questions about behaviour, attitudes towards women and culture arise,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Language matters too. Players don’t simply ‘find themselves in situations’. Adults have agency and make choices. Whatever this investigation ultimately determines, our language shouldn’t inadvertently remove that agency or responsibility.”
Current GWS player and McCarthy’s former AFLW teammate, Tilly Lucas-Rodd, praised the post, while Lion star Jade Ellenger commented: “This is what using a platform for change looks like, so well said.”
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The news about the Swans emerged two weeks after former AFL player-agent Ralph Carr was revealed as the “well-connected man” convicted of rape last month.
In the wake of that revelation, former player and Australian Football Hall of Fame member Sam Newman questioned the evidence in the case and said the victim “might have buyer’s remorse”.
McCarthy questioned how much the AFL was doing to truly engage and include women and girls in footy spaces if someone like Newman remained in the hall of fame.
“We should be asking serious questions about what and who we continue to celebrate as a league,” she wrote.
“The AFL says it wants women and girls to feel that football belongs to them. That has to mean more than having an AFLW competition or getting women through the gates. It means examining the culture around men in football, how women are spoken about and treated, and how our industry responds when serious allegations involving women arise.
“This isn’t about declaring anyone guilty. That is for police and the courts. When women are potentially harmed, why are we so quick to focus on what it means for the men on the football field?”
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