- Heeney was suspended for high shot on St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster
- Took to social media with a message to sponsors and fans
- Was brutally mocked by GWS star Toby Greene
AFL club Greater Western Sydney have delivered a top-class troll to city rivals Sydney Swans, suspending star player Isaac Heeney.
The midfielder was one of the favourites to win the prestigious Brownlow Medal this season after leading his club to the top of the AFL rankings and looking set to secure a place in the Grand Final in September.
However, a high shot on St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster ended his chances at Brownlow, resulting in Heeney being suspended for the club’s match against North Melbourne on Saturday.
The Swans then responded to the suspension in a curious manner by putting Heeney in front of a camera to apologise to the fans.
“Hey guys, I’m obviously extremely disappointed with that result, yeah, quite shocking to be honest,” it begins. “But I just wanted to jump in here and say thank you sincerely.
‘It’s clear that the club is showing its support here, from the top down, consisting of (Swans CEO) Tom Harley, Horse (coach John Longmire), (football manager) Leon (Cameron) and our lawyer Duncan (Miller). I want to thank you very much.
“I also wanted to jump on the event and say thank you so much for the support from the fans, the members and the whole community. It’s been incredible.”
“I just wanted to say that I can guarantee one thing: when I come back, I will make sure I make the club, the supporters and my family proud,” he added.
“It starts this weekend. Obviously I won’t be on the football pitch, but I’ll be there to support the lads and the coaching staff and the club staff here.
‘And then of course I want to build on that and make sure that this year is special.
“So thank you very much for everything and I’ll be back soon.”
GWS star Toby Greene ridiculed the video of Isaac Heeney posted on social media by the Swans
Heeney was suspended for one match for his high shot on St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster
AFL Premiership winner and football analyst Kane Cornes called the video ‘nonsense’.
“Isaac Heeney is to blame for the nonsense he posted online,” Cornes told SEN Breakfast.
“Isaac, you didn’t twist your knee, you didn’t miss a shot on goal, after the whistle in a major final, that didn’t happen, you just got suspended for a week,” Cornes said.
“We don’t need to thank the community; we don’t need the declaration that you will return bigger and better than ever.
And GWS went one step further, putting star player Toby Greene on camera to ridicule the Swans’ video clip.
“Hey guys, I’m obviously pretty upset that I got another ticket last weekend,” Greene says sarcastically.
‘I just wanted to take this opportunity to offer my sincere apologies to all the Giants fans and the AFL community, and of course to my family.
‘I can guarantee you one thing: it won’t happen again. That will be tough.
And I promise I will pay the fine myself.
“I will do everything I can to make this year special. Again, thank you all for your support.”
While many football fans could see the humor in the Greene video, Sydney Swans CEO Tom Harley was not among them, calling it “low-brow”.
“I saw the Giants video and I’m not going to go into too much detail about it, but I thought it was quite vulgar,” Harley told SEN’s Crunch Time.
‘Isaac is a champion of our club and a champion of the game. And when you’re talking about growing the game through a guy from Newcastle who grew up playing rugby league, I wouldn’t have done that.’