Under normal circumstances, Sydney’s game against North Melbourne would have been one of those bloodless, half-arsed dead rubbers of which there were quite a few in round 24. It would have been an opportunity for the Swans to rest a few superstars, and tune up for two home finals. It would have been one of those jolly Sunday-afternoon SCG romps the Swans are renowned for. It would have been a day of celebration for the club – the first ever double-header, a chance to talk about inclusion, respect and culture.
The alleged events at the Pullman Hotel a week ago, after which five Swans players were suspended for breaching club standards by “drinking … staying out late … and bringing women back to the hotel”, put paid to all that of course. It put paid to a lot of things – trust, relationships, reputations, careers, endorsements, campaigns. It brought forth much else – opportunist lawyers, performative and presumptive op-ed columnists, out-of-their-depth chief executives, amateur sleuths, thrice hourly “breaking of silences” and a lot of rage. It’s very much a story for our age – with battlelines drawn, with facts disputed and with all sense of scale and perspective torpedoed.
