{"id":88081,"date":"2026-09-04T09:50:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88081\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T09:50:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T09:50:35","slug":"how-sydneys-james-rowbottom-is-supporting-suspended-swans-housemate-nick-blakey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/88081\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sydney’s James Rowbottom is supporting suspended Swans housemate Nick Blakey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney’s James Rowbottom says he must “separate the person from the problem” 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’s behavioural standards in a post-AFL match hotel party in August.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"An<\/p>\n

Nick Blakey is reportedly keen on a trade out of Sydney as he sits out of this year’s finals. (Photo by Morgan Hancock\/AFL Photos\/via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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

“I haven’t spoken to Nick about any sort of details [about a trade],” Rowbottom said today.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a challenging period for him, and I’m just sort of reaching out as a friend.<\/p>\n

“Living with him is another layer to the situation, and so I’ve reached out as a friend but, no, we haven’t spoken about any of those sort of specifics.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got to sort of separate the person from the problem when you live with someone, to try and offer support.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been trying to do that.”<\/p>\n

The player suspensions are separate to a police investigation into sexual assault allegations and the events at East Melbourne’s Pullman Hotel after Sydney’s round 23 game against Essendon on August 16.<\/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 would not 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’t be at the SCG for the club’s qualifying final against Brisbane on Saturday, but have individually spoken to teammates in the lead-up to the clash.<\/p>\n

\"Errol<\/p>\n

Rowbottom (right) and teammate Errol Gulden (left) will be relied upon heavily in the absence of Sydney’s suspended quintet.\u00a0 (Getty Images: Russell Freeman)<\/p>\n

“It’s a lot more complex than what I think or believe,” Rowbottom said.<\/p>\n

“The club is working through that with them and the relevant party. Honestly, it’s above my pay grade.”<\/p>\n

Heeney and Warner’s 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

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

“My role has been ever-changing this year. I’ve played a lot of half-forward, a lot of midfield, a bit of wing.<\/p>\n

“Football’s ever-changing, and I’m happy to take it as it comes.”<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney’s James Rowbottom says he must “separate the person from the problem” in trying to support suspended teammate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[77,107632,12327,149265,247,5009],"class_list":["post-88081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-afl","tag-james-rowbottom","tag-nick-blakey","tag-nick-blakey-requested-trade","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88081","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=88081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}