EMBATTLED Sydney will brace for further fallout from the scandal that has rocked the club, while finalising preparations for a dead rubber game against North Melbourne.

On Wednesday, five players - Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, Riley Bice and James Jordon - were suspended for the rest of the season for "breaching club standards".

Separately a police investigation continues into the events at East Melbourne's Pullman Hotel in the early hours of Monday morning.

Swans chairman Andrew Pridham on Wednesday said the club-imposed sanctions would "torpedo" the second-placed Swans' premiership hopes.

In their SCG qualifying final, Sydney will most likely face reigning premiers Brisbane, who all but locked in third place with Friday night's 63-point win over Collingwood.

Hawthorn could leapfrog the Lions on percentage, but they would need to beat West Coast by a significant margin on Sunday night to jump to third spot.

The team that finishes fourth will play runaway minor premiers Fremantle, while third will face a decimated and embattled Sydney.

"I don't mind either or, to be honest with you," Lions coach Chris Fagan said after Brisbane's win on Friday night.

"It's just good to get the double chance.

"And I'm sort of thinking that Sydney have lost some players obviously due to the unfortunate thing that happened last week. But in some ways that can galvanise a club too.

"The guys that do get to play just might go that much harder and be that much more difficult to beat.

"So either way I'm just happy we finished top four. We travel well. Either way we're going to have to travel, so we'll take whatever comes our way."

Fagan hadn't spoken to his players specifically about the Sydney situation.

"There's been so much publicity around it - it almost goes without saying," Fagan said.

"I don't feel like I need to have a conversation with my players because it's pretty obvious, the repercussions for not thinking through your actions too clearly. And yeah, it's really unfortunate.

"I do feel sorry for Sydney because they have been such a terrific club in that regard for a long, long time but these sorts of things happen - it's just a bit of a head-scratcher, isn't it?

"You just wonder what was going through people's heads to let that occur."

James Rowbottom, Harry Cunningham, Angus Sheldrick, Caiden Cleary and Tom Hanily will replace the banned five players for the North clash.

That game takes place after Sydney's AFLW clash with Essendon as part of a double header.