{"id":87915,"date":"2026-09-04T06:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/87915\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T06:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T06:25:16","slug":"sydney-midfielder-james-rowbottom-supporting-housemate-nick-blakey-without-talking-about-trade-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/87915\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney midfielder James Rowbottom supporting housemate Nick Blakey without talking about trade rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney<\/a> midfielder James Rowbottom has to \u201cseparate the person from the problem\u201d in trying to support suspended teammate Nick Blakey amid a club crisis and finals campaign.<\/p>\n

Blakey is one of five Swans players stood down for the remainder of the season for breaching the club\u2019s behavioural standards<\/a> in a post-AFL<\/a> match hotel party in August.<\/p>\n

Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, James Jordon and Riley Bice have also been suspended from Sydney\u2019s finals campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

As the club mulls a call on the group\u2019s playing future, there are reports Blakey is searching for a trade following a deterioration in his relationship with the Swans.<\/p>\n

Swans midfielder Rowbottom says he has only spoken to close friend, and house mate, Blakey about his welfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to Nick about any sort of details (about a trade),\u201d Rowbottom said on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a challenging period for him, and I\u2019m just sort of reaching out as a friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving with him is another layer to the situation, and so I\u2019ve reached out as a friend, but no, we haven\u2019t spoken about any of those sort of specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to sort of separate the person from the problem when you live with someone to try and offer support. I\u2019ve been trying to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Rowbottom (centre) says he\u2019s trying to split football and his friendship with Nick Blakey. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

The player suspensions are separate to a police investigation into sexual assault allegations and the events at East Melbourne\u2019s Pullman Hotel after the Round 23 game against Essendon.<\/p>\n

No charges have been laid and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of the five suspended players.<\/p>\n

Rowbottom wouldn\u2019t be drawn when asked if he was open to the five players returning to the club before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The group won\u2019t be at the SCG for the club\u2019s qualifying final against Brisbane on Saturday, but have individually spoken to teammates in the lead-up to the clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot more complex than what I think or believe,\u201d Rowbottom said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club is working through that with them and the relevant party. Honestly, it\u2019s above my pay grade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heeney and Warner\u2019s absence has meant Rowbottom has taken on the bulk of the midfield work with Errol Gulden and Jai Serong.<\/p>\n

Rowbottom had returned to the side for the Round 24 clash against North Melbourne after missing two weeks with a broken hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, personally, I just do what the team needs and I have done that for the last eight years or so,\u201d the 25-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy role\u2019s been ever-changing this year. I\u2019ve played a lot of half-forward, a lot of midfield, a bit of wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFootball\u2019s ever-changing, and I\u2019m happy to take it as it comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dean Cox quickly shuts down journo\u2019s curly question: \u2018Not for today\u2019<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Major update in Swans scandal as focus narrows to four players<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney midfielder James Rowbottom has to \u201cseparate the person from the problem\u201d in trying to support suspended teammate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[77,227,261,247,5009,127368],"class_list":["post-87915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-afl","tag-lifestyle","tag-sport","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans","tag-your-feed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}