Sydney captain Callum Mills says the five players stood down for the rest of the season for breaching behavioural standards have “let the club down” and that he fully supports the sanctions handed down by the Swans.

Mills said he had spoken to the players involved and that those conversations were “extremely hard”.

The Swans captain and senior coach Dean Cox fronted the media on Friday in their first official press conference since the AFL was rocked by reports of a sexual assault incident at the team’s Melbourne hotel in the early hours of Monday morning.

Independent of the ongoing police investigation into those allegations, vice-captain Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Nick Blakey, James Jordon and Riley Bice were suspended for the remainder of the season.

This masthead is not suggesting the players are guilty of any wrongdoing, just that they are assisting police with inquiries.

Mills said he was extremely disappointed in the actions of the five players, who he referenced as “a few”.

“We believe that the five players have let us down and we believe we’ll be doing everything we possibly can to regain the trust of the community,” he said.

“I fully support the sanctions handed down. This has caused us to put the mirror up to all men in society and inside the football club.

“This isn’t about football. My position is that I fully support the sanctions handed down by the club.”

When asked directly if he had spoken to the five players, Mills answered: “Yes, I have.”

When asked how that conversation was, he added: “Extremely hard.”

Mills denied there was a rift amongst the playing group and also apologised to the Swans AFLW team.

“There’s not a rift within the group; the wellbeing of everyone involved is the most important,” he said

“Everyone’s going to be feeling different things; football is secondary at the moment, but we will stick together.

“I addressed the AFLW players, and I acknowledged their pain, and I apologised for the actions of a few within our group.”

Cox said he hasn’t even been thinking about the Swans’ final round clash against North Melbourne on Sunday but that club remains united.

“I haven’t looked at football this week. It’s about trying to work through this process as quickly as we can, and I hope our fans can stand by us. Our club is united, and our football club is united,” he said.

“We have a lot of work to do. The stance we made against these actions is really firm, and we have to forge forward.

“I can’t look any further than Sunday. We first have to get our head into North Melbourne and the historic moment that represents.”

Cox said he had spoken to the five players involved but said their focus right now was on rebuilding the culture within the football club.

“It is unanimous the support for the sanctions. I’ve spoken to the players about their welfare, but as you can imagine, everyone at the football club has had different emotions and they’ve gone through all of them,” he said.

“It’s been a really hard week for everyone involved in the football club.

“I’ve been at the football club for nine years and everyone inside those four walls we value highly, and we back ourselves in to repay the faith.

Cox also read out a statement saying respect for women remains the highest priority for the club.

“We all have women in our lives we deeply love and respect for women is our highest priority both personally and for our football club,” he said.

“I apologise to club staff and women in the community for the actions of our players. I hope everyone is getting the support they need.

“Culture isn’t perfect, and we know our culture has taken a hit, we are going to work through and as hard as we possibly can to re-earn that trust and get it back to where it needs to be.”