THEY WEREN’T EVEN IN THE ROOM… YET THEY’RE PAYING AN UNFATHOMABLE PRICE..! – TWO SYDNEY SWANS PLAYERS CAUGHT IN THE FALLOUT FROM THE HOTEL SCANDAL DESPITE NOT BEING PRESENT IN THE ROOM.
Sydney’s looming finals campaign is in tatters in the wake of the late-night partying that resulted in the suspension of five players for the remainder of the season in Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon.
And of their teammates, none will likely be angrier or more frustrated with them than Dane Rampe and Jake Lloyd.
Dane Rampe looks on as Dean Cox and Callum Mills address the media. Getty
Rampe, 36, and Lloyd, about to turn 33, have spent their whole careers chasing an elusive premiership. Both have played in four losing grand finals for the Swans: 2014, 2016, 2022 and 2024.
They are two of the only players in V/AFL history to have played in four or more grand finals without winning one.
This year looked like another excellent opportunity for the veteran pair. Sydney will finish second on the ladder and host a qualifying final. If the finals had played out to seedings, they would face Fremantle in neutral territory on the MCG on grand final day.
They cashed in three first round picks and locker-room leaders Will Hayward and Ollie Florent, who have both had career years, to Carlton, in order to land key forward Charlie Curnow.
It was a true gamble given Curnow’s significant knee injuries year after year, but the 29-year-old has delivered and will likely win the Coleman Medal. However, it’s impossible to know whether he will continue to hold up into the future. Curnow has the right to feel just as frustrated given his own journey to this point.
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Errol Gulden is in phenomenal form, Heeney, Blakey and Warner were having All-Australian seasons, as was ruckman Brodie Grundy and key defender Tom McCartin. Sydney was as good a shot as any going into September.
Now, their season has exploded, after a late-night party celebrating beating the 18th team on the ladder.
Four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews finds that aspect “unfathomable”.
“Just for someone in the footy community, I thought it unfathomable that after Round 23, this kind of partying into the early hours of the morning took place,” Matthews told 3AW on Saturday.
“That’s the thing that’s unfathomable, that after round 23 in the team hotel there’s partying into the early hours of the morning. Parting to 5am while the season is still going. I find that unfathomable.
“I can’t understand how players would think that’s OK to go and have a heavy party when the season is coming to its climax.”
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James Jordon, Chad Warner, Isaac Heeney, Riley Bice, and Nick Blakey. Nine
Barring Hawthorn thrashing West Coast by 100 points on Sunday night, the Swans will host Brisbane at the SCG in a fortnight. The back-to-back premiers have only lost one match in three months and are firing on all cylinders.
Sydney coach Dean Cox faces a monumental task to overcome the loss of those five players and stabilise his club in the midst of such a confronting situation.
Lloyd has signed on to play again in 2027, but for Rampe, a former captain of the club, this could be it. His last chance to lift the cup he has been chasing across his whole career.
Those hopes have been derailed.
