Sydney forward Sam Wicks will not feature at AFL or VFL level for the Swans this weekend, after a dispute with a teammate threatened to boil over, according to reports.

SEN’s Sam Edmund revealed the 24-year old, who was a surprise omission from the Swans’ team to face Richmond on Sunday after playing in their first three games of the season, had been accused of ‘acting inappropriately’ with a teammate’s ex-girlfriend, with the club making the decision to defuse the situation by giving Wicks the weekend off at all levels.

Edmund described the situation as ‘a small issue now that they [Sydney] were concerned could become a bigger issue over time’.

“Wicks had been accused of acting inappropriately with the former girlfriend of another Swans player,” Edmund said on SEN’s Crunch Time on Saturday morning.

“A thorough club investigation found that those allegations were categorically false, and that Wicks nor his teammate had done anything wrong.

“While all parties were ultimately innocent, the bad blood, which was brought into the open on a night out involving a group of Sydney players, had threatened to fester in the changerooms.

“As a result of that, Swans officials acted swiftly to take the heat out of the situation by giving Wicks some time off. He didn’t travel with teammates to Melbourne today – instead he’s back in Sydney.”

The alleged incident is the second news story to break in a matter of hours concerning rifts within playing groups in the AFL, with Brisbane suffering messy consequences out of a post-season trip to Vegas late last year.

Wicks had 11 disposals in the Swans’ Round 2 win over Essendon after serving as the substitute in their first two games of the season against Melbourne and Collingwood.

He has played 53 games for the club since making his debut in 2020, and kicked 36 goals, including a career-high three in the Swans’ win over upcoming opponents Richmond in early 2021.