Luke Hodge, one of the greatest AFL captains of the modern era, has questioned Sydney's famed 'Bloods' culture following the Swans' sexual assault investigation.
A four-time premiership player at Hawthorn, Hodge believes the players involved in the scandal should be stood down.
Several Swans players are under investigation over an alleged sexual assault at the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne in the early hours of Monday morning.
"They have got to stand them down until they are either cleared or more information comes out," Hodge told SEN on Tuesday.
Hodge believes Sydney's leaders would be asking serious questions of the culture, with several players out until the early hours of Monday morning following Sunday evening's win over last-placed Essendon at the MCG.
"The big question that comes as a leader is, you have to be hard on these guys because you are trying to set a culture and as a captain or as a coach, you have got all these younger guys that are coming through that have to follow the culture from the older guys," Hodge said.
"This is where you sit back with a massive question mark - have we given too much trust to these players, if they think this is OK to do on a Sunday night in Melbourne?
"They've got the 'Bloods' culture ... that's fractured at the moment, that Bloods culture, 'we'll do anything for one another."
Earlier, Brisbane Lions coach Chris Fagan said he didn't expect the investigation to be resolved quickly and stated the "difficult" situation should remind AFL players of the behaviour expected of them.
"It's something I don't really want to comment about," Fagan said.
"I'm glad it's not us. I wouldn't like to be in their shoes, but there's so many facts and things to be revealed and investigated that it would be unfair to talk about that.
"I mean, the ideal scenario for them would be that there's nothing to see, and it'll be all wrapped up within a week. I suspect that's not going to be the case.
"So it's going to be a difficult situation for them to manage their way through and I'm just glad that we're not in that situation.
"The whole thing is just a good reminder to every AFL player at every club about the standards of behaviour that we're expecting."
Geelong assistant coach and former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley stressed the seriousness of the alleged incident.
"But the other side of it, the footy side, it's a terrible situation for Sydney or those players," Buckley told Fox Footy.
"The decisions they've made, whether legal or otherwise - we're talking about the decisions to go out - that have put their teammates, and the club and the game into disrepute.
The Swans have already locked in a home qualifying final ahead of their final regular-season match against North Melbourne at the SCG on Sunday.
But four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis believes Sydney can no longer win the flag with the investigation hanging over the club.
"My honest opinion? You put a line through them," Lewis said on Fox Footy.
"I don't think you can come back (from) an instance of this nature, and this serious to then push it to the side and become a premiership team in 2026.
"They're too hard to win and you need everything to go right."
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
