Sydney Swans incident live updates, SCG double header: AFLW game v Essendon, men’s game v Demons latest news, results; Channel Seven dumps Isaac Heeney interview after scandal

Swans fans have brought signs to show their support for the team and are making a ton of noise early in this game.

The huge ovation before the opening bounce summed up how fans are feeling right now.

The first game of the day is underway at Marvel Stadium, with Essendon hosting Port Adelaide.

If Essendon wins, Richmond will finish last and take home the wooden spoon, and the No.1 pick in the upcoming draft. If a depleted Power side wins, the Bombers get the infamous spoon.

Might be an awkward one under the roof.

Some huge cheers for the Swans AFLW team as they head back down the tunnel, fans started running for the tunnel to show the girls their love and support.

It feels like the Sydney community have turned it on for the girls in this historic weekend, no matter the outside noise - the fans are here to make sure the girls feel the support.

I’ve just arrived at the Sydney Cricket Ground and it is alight with excitement!

Genuinely, there is a buzz for the upcoming AFLW match in 30 minutes, we have lines outside the field and the girls are training. There are some eager beavers like me in the stands already, but the SCG is set to hit a historic number for this double-header this afternoon.

There are no signs up currently, but I’ll be expecting to see some Sydney flags as I sit firmly in Swans territory in Bay 29.

Nine reporter Damian Barrett admits he can’t envisage any of the suspended Swans players running out in the red and white ever again.

Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon have all been stood down for the remainder of the season in the wake of Monday’s scandal in Melbourne.

“I don’t see a way in which the five players can play again for Sydney, but that’s just my opinion as the week has unfolded,” Barrett told Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.

“Obviously that’s a decision that won’t be broached until the start of the trade period.”

Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton believes rival clubs will have a difficult job selling the recruitment of one of these players to their fans, AFLW team and sponsors.

“If one of those players gets recruited by another club, how will that club sell that to their members?” Brereton asked.

“Clubs will want them.”

Barrett answered: “It’s going to be a discussion that each club is going to have to have at its highest levels.”

Carlton boss Graham Wright spoke on the complexities of this trade question on Saturday and you can read what he had to say here.

Former Adelaide captain Rory Sloane believes the five suspended Swans should have fronted the media or at the very least internally fronted the club’s AFLW team and staff this week.

He feels frustrated for coach Dean Cox and captain Callum Mills, who faced a media grilling during the week.

“Why do we always protect the players in these situations? They drive back by car, Callum Mills and Dean Cox have to front the media, why can’t the guys that messed up come out and address the media instead of Mills having to address the media and the AFLW team?” Sloane asked on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.

Nine reporter Damian Barrett said that can’t be the case due to the ongoing nature of the police investigation.

“I get what you’re saying, it’s been left to others to address the situation,” Barrett said.

Host Tony Jones wasn’t copping that response: “I don’t buy that, Damo, because every time the club has spoken they have been able to do it in a football sense. To Rory’s point, there’s nothing stopping those players from doing so.”

9News Sydney reporter Gus Macdonald is live at the SCG ahead of today’s double header, and is expecting a big crowd, well over 10,000 fans to show up for the Sydney AFLW game beginning at 12:30pm AEST.

However, there have been talks of fans showing up in droves for the women’s game, but departing before the men’s starts as a boycott of the team, in the wake of Monday’s scandal.

Macdonald however does not expect that to transpire.

“This was meant to be a proud moment for the club, the SCG double-header, and it’s obviously been clouded by the events of this week,” Macdonald told Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.

“It’ll be interesting to see how the crowd turns out. I think the women will get a large number. The club wants to set a record over 10,000. Then there’s calls for a boycott on the men’s team, I don’t think we will see that in droves.

“I think there will be a big crowd for both games.”

Former AFLW star Chloe Dalton has had her say on the ongoing scandal surrounding the Sydney Swans, saying she hopes fans attend today’s double-header at the SCG and support the women’s team, at the very least.

Both the AFLW side and the men’s team will play on the SCG in a first-ever double header this afternoon.

“As a women’s player, when you walk into a football club, there are a lot of things that tell you it’s a space that has been built for men over a lot of years and you’re trying to prove you deserve to be here and you deserve to be invested in and when something like this happens within the four walls of your club, it feels really, really close to home,” Dalton told Nine’s WWOS.

“When I was at the Giants there was obviously the scandal around Mad Monday and the dress-ups that happened. As a playing group, we felt that really heavily and for me the Swans AFLW players have been really front of mind this week as it has transpired.

“I’m really hoping the general public in Sydney and Swans fans get around these AFLW players to show they’re backing them in.”

The Swans are hoping for a record home AFLW crowd today and would need 10,000 fans in attendance to do so.

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