AFL player Isaac Heeney has been nominated for The Fronwlow Medal after being questioned over an alleged sexual assault.
Heeney and four other Sydney Swans players have been suspended for the remainder of the 2026 AFL season for not upholding the standards of the Swans club in relation to an alleged sexual assault.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern-day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes: the men’s and women’s National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while AFL player Noah Balta is the most recent recipient.
Heeney and his teammates apparently went out drinking after their victory over Essendon and continued celebrating back at the hotel. Media outlets report that the players invited exotic dancers up to a room for lap dances in the early hours of Monday morning, and drugs and alcohol were consumed.
It is then claimed a commotion erupted in one player’s room after one of the women claimed their understanding of what was ‘off limits’ was breached.
Early the following morning, a few women confronted Swans staff in the hotel foyer. The women were apparently demanding to be let back into a room because they had left some possessions there, and it was then they claimed they had been touched inappropriately.
Not long afterwards, police confirmed they had opened an investigation into a sexual assault at the hotel.
Media outlets have stated explicitly that they are not suggesting Heeney or his colleagues are under investigation by police, only that they are assisting police with their inquiries. At the time of writing, Heeney was the only player to have spoken to police about the incident.
Time will tell whether Heeney has done enough to win The Frownlow Medal.
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 