Dear Mr Pavlich and the Board of the Sydney Swans,

By now, you will have seen the reaction to your decision to award Isaac Heeney the Bob Skilton Medal, the highest individual honour awarded to a Sydney Swans player.

It would be very easy to centre the criticism entirely on Mr Heeney, but that would miss the point. My concern, actually, is with you.

You made a bad decision. In doing so, you missed an opportunity to demonstrate leadership in an area desperately requiring it.

So, before we go any further, let’s dispense with your counter argument immediately.

I agree Mr Heeney is entitled to the presumption of innocence. No one is asking the Sydney Swans to determine criminal guilt, interfere with a police investigation or make findings about matters that belong to police.

My argument, in essence, is that you had a choice: was this the appropriate moment to confer your club’s highest individual honour on a player who remains connected to an active police investigation and whom, only weeks earlier, you had sanctioned for serious breaches of your own behavioural standards?

Spoiler alert: the answer was no.

Strangely enough, six weeks ago, you seemed to get it too. 

You told us:

“Representing this Club carries significant responsibilities both on and off the field.”

You also said:

“All women deserve to be respected and feel safe.”

We agreed. We loved that! 

Your initial response showed decisiveness. You separated the players’ breaches of club standards from the criminal investigation and took action on matters within your control and that you were responsible for: the standards and culture of the Sydney Swans.

Excellent. No notes. 

Then came awards night.

Chairman Andrew Pridham explained that the medals recognise on-field performance and that “Conduct and Performance are Separate Matters.”

Sorry, what now? 

Six weeks ago, representing the Sydney Swans carried responsibilities both on and off the field. Now, when there is a trophy and glory  involved, conduct and performance are separate matters.

You know you can’t credibly hold both positions, right?

I reckon the real kicker for us women is we really liked your Diversity Action Plan.

You proudly position your club as leaders in this space. Your most recent Diversity Action Plan included the Advancement of Women as one of four central pillars, all underpinned by the club’s stated value of respect.

Cool. We love that. But we’re still confused.

Presumably, a Diversity Action Plan is intended to shape the culture of the Sydney Swans. It wasn’t written to sit beautifully formatted on a webpage waiting for International Women’s Day?

Ipso facto, you would expect it to have some relevance in precisely these moments: when values become inconvenient and leadership requires an actual decision.

The Swans cannot credibly say respect, gender equity and the advancement of women are central to your culture, and then declare misogynistic conduct irrelevant when deciding who to celebrate. 

And respectfully, your argument about the integrity of the vote count doesn’t quite cut the mustard either.

Humour me with some out-of-the-box thinking, wouldja?

Option 1: You could have allowed every vote to stand and deferred presentation of the medal until the investigation was resolved.

Option 2: You could have placed the award in abeyance.

Option 3: You could have distinguished between determining who received the most votes and deciding whether, in exceptional circumstances, the club should formally confer its highest honour at that particular moment.

Any of these options would have demonstrated that the words “Most Valuable Player” mean something broader in Sydney Swans culture than “man who accumulates most coaching votes”.

And before anyone says that is precisely all the medal means, I invite you to consider how organisational awards work virtually everywhere else.

Imagine I’m a senior manager in an ordinary workplace. I am exceptional at my job. Outstanding results. Top performer.

The organisation then finds out I have seriously breached its code of conduct and temporarily stands me down, while a criminal investigation involving my alleged breaches  is ongoing.

Would my boss really shrug and award me Employee of the Year six weeks later because, technically, my performance scores had already been submitted?

You don’t need a degree in HR to know that  organisational awards communicate to everyone “this is what we celebrate here.”

Your values are not demonstrated by having a Diversity Action Plan. Values are also not demonstrated when everything is easy. Values are demonstrated when doing what you said you believed becomes inconvenient.

That’s why this decision disappointed so many people. It let women down, obviously.

But it also let men down. 

It let down fathers trying to teach their sons that character matters. Coaches teaching young men that talent does not exempt them from accountability. Men trying to challenge the idea that what happens to women is somehow peripheral to the serious business of male achievement.

Young men are watching this. What the hell kind of lesson are they supposed to take from it?

That character matters only when you’re on display?

That respect for women is a core organisational value, unless someone can do a bloody good kick and then talent trumps respect? 

Right now, the message appears to be that character matters until it becomes administratively inconvenient. 

That’s particularly difficult to reconcile with a club that simultaneously asks us to admire its leadership on diversity, respect and the advancement of women.

Look at our values. Look at our plan. Look at our commitment to women! Aren’t we progressive! 

And then, at the precise moment those commitments require something difficult:

Oh, sorry not like that. LOL!

I call bullshit. That is not cultural leadership. It’s branding. And now, more than ever, we are watching. 

Lucky for you, we gals love a second chance. Speaking for myself, at least, I believe the Swans still have an opportunity to do better.  And I would like to invite you to. 

I’ve even done the hard work for you. Here are the next steps that will help you regain integrity as a club: 

Acknowledge that awarding the Bob Skilton Medal in these circumstances created a conflict with the club’s values.

And perhaps most importantly…

Independently review the Advancement of Women component of your Diversity Action Plan as you look to refresh it. (I’d be happy to have a crack for you). Does your leadership and decision-making genuinely reflect the values you publicly espouse?

If your (my) review says you are meeting those standards, excellent. We can show the public how.

If it says you aren’t, that’s ok. But we raise the standards. We commit to better.

But for the love peanuts please don’t keep telling us that respect, gender equality and character are central to Sydney Swans culture while simultaneously insisting that they have nothing to do with who the club honours and celebrates.

The ball, (with apologies for the painfully obvious metaphor), is back with you, Gents. 

Just please don’t send us another statement telling us how the Sydney Swans value women. You’ve annoyed us now. 

Be better.