Victoria Police will not charge four Sydney Swans players over Melbourne hotel incident

Victoria Police will not lay criminal charges against four Sydney Swans players over an alleged sexual assault at a Melbourne hotel, saying there was not enough evidence to proceed.

The four men are Isaac Heeney, James Jordon, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey. Blakey has since moved on and is now a North Melbourne player. The Guardian reported the decision on Thursday 12 November.

The alleged incident happened at the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne in the early hours of 17 August. Three women made a report to police afterwards. None of the men has been charged, so there will be no criminal case against them.

Victoria Police said the decision followed a thorough investigation and legal advice. The force declined to comment further because of an ongoing civil matter, so it has not said more about the case itself.

The Swans acted within days of the incident. The club suspended Heeney, Jordon, Warner, Blakey and Riley Bice in August for breaching club standards. The breaches included drinking and bringing women back to their hotel. Police treated Bice and two other people who were in the hotel room at the time as witnesses, not suspects.

The club has also engaged outside advisers to carry out an independent review of its culture. That review runs separately from the police process, and the police decision does not end it.

Australian football fans will know these four players as regular names on the Swans list. For everyone else, the key point is simple. Police looked at the allegations, found the evidence was not strong enough for criminal charges, and the matter now sits with the club and the civil process.