Sydney superstar Isaac Heeney has thanked “fans, members and the wider community” for supporting him after his one-game suspension was confirmed at the AFL Appeals Board.
But it comes amid a journalist’s claim the Swans were too confident or even “smug” heading into the initial Tribunal appeal and got on the wrong side of the panel.
After the Appeals Board ended Heeney’s Brownlow hopes by rejecting the Swans’ appeal of his striking ban, the Swans released a video statement in which he described the ruling as “pretty shattering”.
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“I just wanted to jump on here and give a heartfelt thank you,” Heeney said.
“The show of support from the club here, from the top down being Tom Harley, Horse (John Longmire), Leon (Cameron), and our lawyer Duncan (Miller), thank you guys very much. Also wanted to jump on and just say thank you so much for the support from the fans, the members and the wider community. It’s been truly incredible.
“I just wanted to also say that I can guarantee one thing – when I’m back, I’ll make sure I do this club proud, the supporters proud, my family proud.
“It starts this weekend, obviously won’t be on the footy field but I’ll be there to support the boys and the coaching staff, and the staff at the club here. And then obviously I wanna follow on from that and make sure this year’s a special one. Thank you guys very much for everything and I’ll be back out there soon.”
Heeney will miss Saturday’s home game against North Melbourne and is eligible to return next week.
However it was the way Sydney went into Tuesday night’s Tribunal appeal that got rival clubs and observers off-side.
While there was no suggestion the Tribunal behaved unfairly, the Herald Sun’s Scott Gullan reported other teams took notice of how the Swans acted.
“There was a sense around the league – a few other clubs were talking about (this), there was a sense they were a bit overconfident coming into this case, earlier in the week to the Tribunal,” Gullan told Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle.
“And were straight on the front foot and said we will overturn this. And Jeff Gleeson, who’s the Tribunal chairman, he’s thrown the guns for the AFL several years, and you don’t pick the bear, do you? You don’t needle him.
“There was a sense they may have pushed too far.”
His Herald Sun colleague Sam Landsberger responded: “So Sam Taylor called the Swans smug, and the smugness might’ve cost them on Tuesday night?”
Gullan, who was speaking before the Appeal board decision, said: “It might come back to bite them.”