Sydney forward Sam Wicks will not feature at AFL or VFL level for the Swans this weekend, after a dispute with a teammate threatened to boil over, according to reports.
SEN’s Sam Edmund revealed the 24-year old, who was a surprise omission from the Swans’ team to face Richmond on Sunday after playing in their first three games of the season, had been accused of ‘acting inappropriately’ with a teammate’s ex-girlfriend, with the club making the decision to defuse the situation by giving Wicks the weekend off at all levels.
Edmund described the situation as ‘a small issue now that they [Sydney] were concerned could become a bigger issue over time’.
“Wicks had been accused of acting inappropriately with the former girlfriend of another Swans player,” Edmund said on SEN’s Crunch Time on Saturday morning.
“A thorough club investigation found that those allegations were categorically false, and that Wicks nor his teammate had done anything wrong.
“While all parties were ultimately innocent, the bad blood, which was brought into the open on a night out involving a group of Sydney players, had threatened to fester in the changerooms.
“As a result of that, Swans officials acted swiftly to take the heat out of the situation by giving Wicks some time off. He didn’t travel with teammates to Melbourne today – instead he’s back in Sydney.”
Sam Wicks. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The alleged incident is the second news story to break in a matter of hours concerning rifts within playing groups in the AFL, with Brisbane suffering messy consequences out of a post-season trip to Vegas late last year.
Wicks had 11 disposals in the Swans’ Round 2 win over Essendon after serving as the substitute in their first two games of the season against Melbourne and Collingwood.
He has played 53 games for the club since making his debut in 2020, and kicked 36 goals, including a career-high three in the Swans’ win over upcoming opponents Richmond in early 2021.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
that bridge I'd like to have been in the planning room the day that idiocy got approved
dargerovitch
Roar Rookie
"None of this makes any sense to me." I can clear that up for you , Dumbo : It's the Sydney Swans.
Dumbo
Roar Rookie
I’m scratching my head about this. – The lady in question was the “ex” of the other player. If the relationship is over, why would the other player be concerned if Wicks became involved with her ? – What constitutes “inappropriate behaviour” ? It would seem that no law was broken – the lady did not report Wicks to the police, so what was the moral or ethical standard that was allegedly broken by Wicks? – If the club found that Wicks had no (legal, moral or ethical) case to answer, then why has he been suspended? None of this makes any sense to me.
nostats
Roar Rookie
we have the duddley street bridge in west melb that seems to get hit by an oversized vehicle every other day .supposedly brings the whole road network into chaos according to our news services .ha
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
That’s what I was thinking. The Swans so rarely screw up, so this scenario doesn’t add up at all.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
If l lived in America I'd choos WA, OR, MI or MN
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
America's democracy is weak and ineffective.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Sounds like nothing positive in this story.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Do you reckon Sam Edmund ever follows the footy?
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Maybe the Wicks need to be lit.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
And this article takes the "nothing happened" non-happening all the way to Las Vegas and tries to link all player performance to insidious female influence. Eve! Leave that apple alone. You know Adam can't help himself.
Scyphus
Roar Rookie
The extreme right loathes everything about Baltimore.
Scyphus
Roar Rookie
Talk is cheap. Lives and bridges, not so much. Watching the vid of the bridge going down like a house of cards made me flash back to 2001. Crazy part is, the ship looks like it maybe scratched its paint, that’s all.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
The way the extreme right were carrying on it’s as if the whole nation of America and it’s national anthem had died.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I thought it just killed the bridge. The way Trumptards are talking it killed America, it's anthem and it's freedoms.
Scyphus
Roar Rookie
Oh, it succeeded. That's (was) 30 mins from me.
IDeals22
Roar Rookie
This club is not poorly run, so there has to be more to this.story.
Rich_daddy
Roar Guru
So the club investigates an issue that is arguably none of their business to begin with, finds there is no case to answer yet decides to suspend him anyway because it MIGHT become an issue down the track. WTF???? It’s like an episode of Utopia!
mrl
Roar Rookie
AFL is seriously funny!
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
It's probably the reason the container ship in Baltimore tried to kill the National Anthem