Updated August 21, 2026 — 7:31pm,first published 2:17pmRecently retired Sydney Swan Taylor Adams has been identified as one of the men who joined five players in an East Melbourne hotel room with hired adult entertainment.Two sources briefed on the incident, but not authorised to speak publicly, said Adams, 32, was at the Pullman East Melbourne in the early hours of Monday morning.Taylor Adams at Swans training.AAPWhile Adams was there, with another unknown man, on the night this masthead is not aware if Adams was there when a sexual assault is alleged to have occurred. He was contacted for comment, but did not respond.Adams retired in June after his career at the Swans was marred by injury. The midfielder spent the bulk of his career at Collingwood, notably playing 23 games in the 2023 season before missing out on the side’s premiership due to a hamstring injury. He then requested the trade to the Swans.The revelations came on a day of drama for Sydney with two of the women involved in an alleged sexual assault preparing legal action against the five players and the club.A dejected captain Callum Mills also fronted the media to concede the group had “let us down” and deny, alongside AFLW team captain Lucy McEvoy, that it had caused a rift between the men’s and women’s programs.Lawyers representing the two women claims they’ve been forced into hiding and that civil legal proceedings would be launched in Supreme Court of Victoria, with the pair set to claim damages for pain and suffering, psychological injury and economic loss.The Pullman hotel in East Melbourne.Simon Schluter“We are currently investigating the circumstances and preparing to commence legal proceedings against the club and potentially the individuals involved,” Manny Carbone, a partner at Carbone Lawyers, said.“Our clients are extremely traumatised and feel that their dignity and personal rights have been seriously violated by the events of Monday.”Five Swans players – Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice – have been suspended from play for the rest of this year for their part in the incident that unfolded in a Pullman East Melbourne hotel room in the early hours of last Monday.A woman hired to visit the room has alleged she was touched outside a previous agreement by one of the players, with the police investigation ongoing.Star player Isaac Heeney is at the centre of the police inquiry.John Karantzis, the head of personal injury law and litigation at Carbone Lawyers, described the alleged assault as “demeaning, abhorrent and simply not moral or acceptable”.“These women were subjected to the most disgusting actions and behaviour I have ever heard about in my 28 years as a lawyer,” he told Melbourne radio station 3AW on Friday.“They’re suffering severe stress and anxiety. They’re actually fearing for their life at the moment ... they are literally in hiding and they are suffering.”The five Sydney Swans players stood down over the alleged sexual assault investigation.9NewsKarantzis said there were “even a few leaders in that room” along with the five Swans players.“I can’t go into detail because this will be the subject of proceedings, criminal and civil,” Karantzis said. “However, things got out of hand. The line was crossed.”The Sydney Swans denied there were any other Swans players or officials in the room.“The Sydney Swans can confirm that all investigations carried out by the club have consistently indicated that the only representatives of the club in the room central to the police investigation were the five players who have been stood down,” the club said in a statement on Friday morning.“We have every reason to consider that reports to the contrary are simply false.“We are respecting the process with the relevant authorities and will refrain from commencing on police matters.“We would also like to take this opportunity to condemn some of the misinformation being reported and are now considering our legal position on those matters,” the statement read.The woman who claims she was assaulted told the Herald Sun on Thursday: “I don’t want money. All I care about is justice.“I’m going to stand up for what is right. And I’m never going to let this happen to anyone else. Justice will be served.“I care about women’s rights and what’s right, because this happens too often to women and they get away with it.”A source close to the women, but not authorised to speak publicly, said at least one was “traumatised” by the incident and subsequent fallout from the unfolding scandal, having sought professional psychological treatment.This masthead has previously reported that two sources familiar with the police investigation, but not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed drugs were involved in the early morning incident. However, both said the Swans teammates had denied being responsible for the drugs being there or taking them.In Sydney, Mills addressed a press conference, along with coach Dean Cox, with the captain saying the events of this week were cause to “put the mirror up to all men within society and all men within the club”.“I’m deeply shocked and disappointed to be here. I firstly want to apologise to the AFLW players, our female staff, and the women in our lives, our partners, mothers, sisters, and all women within the community,” Mills said.“We take these allegations extremely seriously, and we hope the women involved are getting all the support they deserve.“We’re really disappointed at the actions of these five players, and as a playing group, we fully support the club’s decision on the sanctions handed down. We take full responsibility, and we are deeply sorry.”Mills had addressed the club’s AFLW players earlier this week ahead of a first double-header featuring the two teams at the SCG on Sunday.“I addressed the AFLW players, and I acknowledge their pain, and I deeply apologised for the actions of a few within our group,” Mills said.Cox also apologised to the women at the club.“We are extremely disappointed at the actions of the players, and the sanctions imposed by the board show how serious we take these matters. To those women involved, I hope everyone is getting the support they need,” Cox said.“Our culture isn’t perfect. One thing that we do know is our culture has taken a hit. The thing you need to understand about a culture is how you respond and the actions you take following being here. We’re going to work through and, as hard as we possibly can, to get the trust back from the community to get to the culture where we’re desired to be, where we once have been.”AFLW captain Lucy McEvoy said in a separate media conference the club has “taken a reputational hit”.“On behalf of the playing group, we also support the club in the sanctions that were handed down to the players,” McEvoy said.“We are incredibly disappointed, as a lot of people are, with what’s occurred at the beginning of this week, and we know that the actions of those five players are not a reflection of the broader club and the programs more broadly.”McEvoy denied there was any rift between the AFL and AFLW programs, saying the club was “absolutely united”, with the two programs sharing a barbecue at the club’s headquarters this week.She said the women’s team had not discussed how they would feel about any of the five players returning to the club in the future, but when asked if it was something she would like input in, she said, “absolutely, yes”.McEvoy said she was and the other women’s players appreciated Mills speaking with the group.“He [Mills] was quite remorseful on behalf of the men’s program, and he’s a really class human being, Millsy.”“The respect he has for us and the respect we have for him and the way he’s handled himself this week is second to none, and we couldn’t have asked more from him as a captain of the men’s program, and we really appreciate him taking the time to wrap his arms around us as a football club.”From our partners