Sam Newman has used the controversial phrase ‘buyer’s remorse’ again while weighing into the allegations surrounding Sydney Swans players at a Melbourne hotel.
The former AFL star applied the expression to the players’ decision to remain out drinking until the early hours, days after he was condemned for using the same words while discussing the woman raped by celebrity manager Ralph Carr.
Newman recorded the latest episode of his You Cannot Be Serious podcast while holidaying in Europe and before Sydney announced five players would not be considered for selection for the remainder of the 2026 season.
Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner were later stood down for breaching the club’s standards.
The AFL supported the sanctions, which Sydney stressed were independent of the ongoing Victoria Police investigation into a reported sexual assault at the Pullman East Melbourne hotel.
Newman said the players should face consequences for remaining out until about 4.30am and argued their conduct alone justified disciplinary action from the club.
Sam Newman has again used the phrase ‘buyer’s remorse’ while discussing the allegations surrounding Sydney Swans players
Sydney ruled Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner out for the season
The loss of key players including Nick Blakey and Isaac Heeney (pictured) is a huge blow for the Swans ahead of the AFL finals
‘But they should certainly be stood down for, honestly, just stupidity,’ he said.
‘Some of them probably are partially educated, and to do that, at some stage they must have thought, “This is not a good idea.”
‘This is buyer’s remorse. This is not a good idea.’
Newman was using the phrase to describe the players’ decision to be out drinking in the early morning, rather than the alleged sexual assault or the women involved.
At the time the episode was recorded, no arrests or charges had been announced.
Newman acknowledged that the available information was incomplete and said the facts should be established before conclusions were drawn about the reported interaction.
‘Then they said they should be stood down. Maybe we could find out the facts of why they should be stood down,’ he said.
‘They should only be stood down until the facts are clarified as to what happened with the interaction between the women.’
Newman applied ‘buyer’s remorse’ to the players’ decision to remain out drinking, calling it a ‘bad decision’
The AFL supported Sydney’s sanctions, which were imposed independently of the continuing Victoria Police investigation
The Swans subsequently imposed their season-ending sanctions after a club board meeting.
‘Sydney Swans players Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner will not be considered for selection for the remainder of the 2026 AFL season,’ the club said.
‘The AFL is supportive of the club’s sanctions. We respect there is an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police and the actions we have taken today are independent of this.’
Police attended the Pullman on Monday morning after receiving a report of a sexual assault.
Officers spoke to several people at the hotel, while Heeney, Warner, Jordon and Bice were reported to have later spoken voluntarily with police.
No arrests had been made and police had not publicly identified a suspect. There is no suggestion that any of the five players stood down by Sydney were invistigated by the police or committed the alleged sexual assault or other criminal wrongdoing.
Newman also used the podcast to triple down on his earlier ‘buyer’s remorse’ comments about Carr’s rape conviction.
Carr, 66, was found guilty by a Victorian County Court jury on July 28 of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault after a woman visited his Melbourne home in March 2023 to discuss possible work.
Ralph Carr was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in July
Newman previously said the woman ‘might have had some buyer’s remorse’, sparking accusations from anti-violence campaigners that he had blamed the victim and questioned her credibility.
He has repeatedly insisted the phrase referred to the decision to consume cocaine and alcohol before the assault, not the rape itself.
‘Buyer’s remorse meaning a bad decision,’ Newman said in his latest defence.
He then compared the expression with remarks attributed to Carr’s former wife Tina Arena, who reportedly said: ‘You reap what you sow.’
“‘Reap what you sow” means that your actions have consequences,’ Newman said.
‘That is so similar to buyer’s remorse, meaning a bad decision.
‘But she didn’t get taken over the coals, and rightly so, because there’s nothing wrong with what she said. There was nothing wrong with what I said.’
Newman accused critics of removing the references to cocaine and alcohol when reporting his original comments, creating what he said was the false impression that he was defending Carr.
‘Because it was manipulated,’ he said.
‘They didn’t put in the coke and the drinking part. It was just that I said it was buyer’s remorse, which seemed to suggest that I was siding with Carr.
‘Would you think I’d do that?’
Anti-violence campaigner Sherele Moody previously accused Newman of questioning the victim’s credibility, while Women’s Agenda writer Rita Nasr argued the words reframed a jury’s verdict as a woman having second thoughts.
Newman rejected that criticism and again maintained that ‘buyer’s remorse’ could describe any decision that ended badly.
His comments about the Swans were recorded before the club ultimately imposed the sanctions he had supported.
