Swans chief Matthew Pavlich apologises after Tom Papley allegations

Sydney Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich has apologised "unreservedly" to members, fans and corporate partners, and says the club has "a long way to go" on its culture.

The apology follows allegations involving Swans player Tom Papley. Papley allegedly returned a positive roadside test for methylamphetamine, a stimulant often called ice, on Monday in Sydney's Centennial Park. He was pulled over for random testing and handed a 24-hour driving ban. Police also found he was driving on a suspended licence, which had been suspended because of an unpaid parking fine.

A secondary oral fluid sample was taken, and results are expected to take at least four weeks. Papley is due to appear before Waverley Local Court on November 26. These are allegations, and no court has ruled on them.

Pavlich said the club had been "identifying a culture problem" over the past eight weeks. The Swans have started "deep work" on it with the AFL's men's football department and independent advisers. "We've let them down again," he said. "We must be better."

The club's problems are not new this season. In August, the Swans suspended five players for the rest of the AFL season for breaching the club's behavioural standards, the rules it sets for player conduct. The five were Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice. Pavlich's message now is that the work is far from finished. "We need to be better," he said, adding that the club still has "deep work to do" to understand how to get there.

For supporters, the immediate question is what the review finds. The Swans have not yet said what that review will look at or when its findings will be made public. The court date and the drug test result will also shape how the story develops, and both fall after the football season has ended.

Pavlich has accepted that the Swans have to do more than apologise, and he has put the work on the record.