Sydney Swans manager, Dean Cox has said that he has been left "extremely disappointed" that several of his players have been embroiled in a sexual assault investigation.
This comes after the Australian Football League (AFL) side had conformed that an "alleged incident" in relation to an unspecified number of players had taken place in the hours after the Swans' victory at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. They currently have 17 wins from 22 games this season.
At the time of writing, no other details were reported.
It was also reported in the BBC, that detectives Victoria Police had been separately investigating a report of sexual assault at a hotel in East Melbourne in the early hours of Monday morning. It was confirmed by a spokesperson that several players from the team were spoken to about this alleged incident by officers. But no arrests were made, nor any formal interviews were conducted.
Speaking to various Australian media at the Swans' headquarters today, Dean Cox told reporters that there would be further updates as "the day unfolds".
"We're working our way through everything with the AFL and relevant parties, and we'll update when we get more information", he said.
Elsewhere, the club's chief executive, Matthew Pavlich said that they would not be drawn into the specific accusations, and that they were "still piecing together exactly what's transpired".
"Safe to say, we're extremely shocked and disappointed that this has taken place, and that the players have found themselves in this situation", he said at a press conference. "There's going to be lots of speculation, but given it's a police matter right now, that is all we can say".
In the wake of these allegations, the AFL have faced calls to suspend the players involved in this alleged incident, ahead of the Swans' final fixture before the finals, which sees them take on North Melbourne on Sunday.
The league does not have a strict no-fault stand-down policy on players who have been charged with serious offences, including sexual assault. They handle cases on a discretionary and case-by-case basis.
