We Thought They Were Carpenters: The Surprising Fee Revealed for Dancers’ Performance at the Hotel Linked to the Sydney Swans Scandal
The alleged victim in the scandal that has engulfed the Sydney Swans has spoken for the first time.
Sydney on Wednesday announced it wouldn’t consider Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon or Chad Warner for AFL selection for the rest of the 2026 season after breaching the club’s behavioural standards.
It follows an alleged incident at the Pullman hotel in East Melbourne on Monday morning, which is now the subject of a Victoria Police sexual assault investigation.
The woman who has alleged she was sexually assaulted spoke with Code Sports and said there were nine men in the hotel room over the course of the night.
She did not recognise them, because she lives interstate, and says she gave them a discount on her services as an exotic dancer because they claimed they were tradies.
“I don’t want money. All I care about is justice,” she told Code Sports.
“I’m going to stand up for what is right. And I’m never going to let this happen to anyone else. Justice will be served.
“I care about women’s rights and what’s right, because this happens too often to women and they get away with it.”
She explained: “We did the show for less money than normal because we thought they were carpenters.
“They told us they were carpenters.”
The father said his daughter was “distressed” by the incident and claimed Swans players had pressured her to go further than her job entailed.
“Just pressure. Sexual favours. Pressure,” he told CODE Sports.
Read the full interview with the woman, along with her father, at Code Sports.
The ABC says police sources allege an “arrangement was reached … to pay extra to take drugs, believed to be cocaine, from the women’s breasts and buttocks”.
Seven says woman who took the booking now “fears for her life” having been identified online.
“I’m so scared … this is so dangerous for our safety,” she said.
It’s not suggested the Swans players were responsible for the drugs being there or they took them, only that they were there.
It’s understood police did not have the power to drug-test the players as they were not “doing an activity where it is illegal to be under the influence”.
The Swans face North Melbourne in a Round 24 ‘deadrubber’ clash at the SCG as they’re already locked into second spot for the upcoming finals series. But they’ll now head into their September campaign without those five key players.
Before the Swans-Roos AFL clash on Sunday, Sydney’s AFLW team will take on Essendon in a bid to record a second straight win.
Both AFL and AFLW Swans teams trained on Wednesday at the SCG, with the men’s program linking up arm-in-arm for a huddle during their session.
SOURCE: FOX SPORTS
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/sydney-swans/afl-news-2026-sydney-swans-player-incident-latest-updates-victoria-police-investigating-sexual-assault-allegations-reported-resentment-inside-player-group/news-story/6b1b5013cdd54604e873e907a30d52d1
