AFL CEO Andrew Dillon has confirmed the five Sydney players suspended for the remainder of the season – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice – won't be invited to the Brownlow Medal but remain eligible to win the award.

Last Wednesday, the five were sanctioned by the club for breaching club standards following an incident at the Pullman Hotel in the early hours of Monday morning, which is currently being investigated by Victoria Police.

All five were removed from consideration for the All-Australian squad, which will be released later on Monday. Heeney, Blakey and Warner were all expected to be in the 46 and had made compelling cases to be in the 23 before the incident.

"Those players won't be invited," Dillon told reporters at a press conference to launch the 2026 finals series on Monday.

"They're still eligible for Brownlow, but they're under a club suspension, which goes until the end of the season. They're still welcome back to the club when that's completed."

Dillon spoke publicly on the Swans matter for the first time on Monday, addressing the media in Richmond alongside greats from the four clubs competing in wildcard finals this weekend - Garry Lyon, Anthony Koutoufides, Tom Boyd and Travis Cloke.

"I've been asked a lot in recent days what message football should be sending to young people and what we should be saying to our kids. For me, the answer is straightforward: It doesn't matter who you are, what you do, or whether you're an AFL footballer, the way we treat women says a lot about who we are as people, as a community and as a game,” Dillon said.

"Quite simply, respect for women is not negotiable. Our players, clubs and competition have an extraordinary platform and a responsibility to set the right example.

"The actions of five players have fallen well short of the standards our game expects and our community deserves.

"While there are players involved, we cannot lose sight of the bigger issues. Most importantly, there are women who have made a report to police and their privacy must be respected."

Dillon said the AFL won't complete its own inquiries until after the police investigation is finalised, but denied the game has a cultural problem.

"I think the actions of a few don't define the actions of the entire industry," he said.

"The actions of a few don't take away from the thousands of people involved in football at all different levels who do great things all the time. But what we do know is we can do things better, and we'll continue to do that and we'll continue to work together."

Meanwhile, the Dillon expects independent King's Counsel, James Peters, to complete his investigation of the Jake Kolodjashnij situation this week.

"The King's counsel hasn't quite come back yet with his inquiry. He's been working through that, spoken to a number of people relevant to that matter, I think we're expecting it this week," he said.