‘Taking the p**s’: Joel Amartey boots nine as Swans seal 19-year first
Swans forward Joel Amartey has put his hand up to be Buddy Franklin’s heir apparent, tearing the heart out of Adelaide in stunning scenes.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The Sydney Swans’ stunning season has continued in Adelaide on the back of 24-year-old star Joel Amartey booting nine goals in a stunning 16.13 (109) to 10.7 (67).
Before this match, the biggest bag of goals this season was six, which had been achieved by six different players this season.
However, Amartey blew that mark out of the water in what has become a rare sight in the modern game.
Watch every game of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >
It didn’t look like it would be the case early as the Crows led by 23 points 19 minutes into the second term when Brayden Cook poked through a goal in heavy traffic.
But, as the Swans have been doing all season, the match flipped on a dime as Amartey went off.
The Swans season so far has been highlighted by their midfield superstars but in the first season post-Buddy Franklin, Amartey has put his hand up as the legend’s heir apparent.
When Franklin booted his 1000th goal, much of the talk around the milestone was around how no other player would join the elite 1000-goal club.
While Amartey is a long way from that mark, he became the first Swan since Franklin to boot at least nine goals, which Buddy last achieved in August 2017 (he kicked 10 in that game).
Heading into the match, the most Amartey had in a match was four goals.
It even left 1254-goal AFL legend Jason Dunstall floored on Fox Footy, after he only had 10 touches for his nine goals.
“This is as efficient a performance as we’ve seen in a long long time,” Dunstall said. “When you have 10 kicks and you kick 9.1, you can’t do any better than that.
“It’s exciting to see a key forward go off like that.”
For the record, Dunstall kicked nine goals 31 times in his career.
Leigh Montagna pointed out that at halftime, Amartey had not had one touch.
But there were a few questions after Amartey was benched several times in the final quarter, including with a couple of minutes remaining.
On Channel 7, Alister Nicholson said: “This just isn’t on. You got to call that out. Joel Amartey on the bench with two minutes to go and he has kicked nine.”
“It’s an entertainment product partly, isn’t it. I know teams want to win, but this result is well and truly determined. Leave him out there and let’s have some late theatre.”
Four-time premiership great Shaun Burgoyne added: “He’s laughing because he’s like ‘what am I doing here?’ They’re all laughing, saying get him back out there.”
But when asked about why he was on the bench at the end of the game, Amartey laughed: “It was just my rotation.”
Dunstall interjected, saying: “There’s a time where rotations don’t matter mate. When you’ve got nine and there’s a couple of minutes left, you say to someone else ‘you have a rotation mate’.”
Amartey said: “I wish. But it’s a team game and the service I was receiving was pretty phenomenal all day, all four quarters. I had to come off and get that rotation and give all the boys a run on.”
Amartey didn’t want to take too much of the praise on himself either.
“Everyone got their lick of the ice cream tonight. In our forward line, we don’t know who’s going to kick the goals each week and I think that’s the beauty of our mids and our forward line because anyone can have their day and it’s a dangerous look up there for us.”
Amartey also called Buddy the “best mentor you could have as a key forward”.
He also became the first player since Franklin in round 10 2012 to boot four goals in consecutive quarters according to sports statistician Sir Swamp Thing on X.
Fans were blown away by the tremendous performance from the 24-year-old.
Footyology’s Rohan Connolly said: “Seriously, what sort of odds would you have got on Joel Amartey kicking a bag of nine goals in an AFL game before tonight?!! Amazing! Might be biggest turn-up since Kyle Reimers kicked eight for Essendon in 2011!!”
The Glass Table X account posted: “Joel Amartey has put in one of the all time obscure performances for a forward ever!”
One fan wrote: “Amartey’s 9 goals from 10 touches so far is insane.”
Another commented: “Sydney are a joke aren’t they? They just toy with teams in first halves and then once they flick the switch you’re gone, quick as a flash.
“Amartey kicking 8 — what? Taking the piss.”
Another added: “Joel Amartey channelling his inner Buddy and kicking 8 goals within 2 quarters of AFL footy wasn’t on my bingo card tonight.”
The night has also reshaped the Coleman Medal race after Amartey entered round 14 with 22 goals for the season, which was good enough for equal 14th on the ladder.
After tonight’s game, he’s up to fifth on the leaderboard, still seven off Carlton’s Charlie Curnow and Gold Coast’s Ben King who are on 38.
It’s an enormous result for the Swans, who moved to 12-1 for the season.
The Swans are going to be the first team since 2005 to be 12 points clear since the West Coast in 2005 — the Eagles lost the grand final that season to the Swans.
With Jason Phelan, Newswire
Originally published as ‘Taking the p**s’: Joel Amartey boots nine as Swans seal 19-year first
Call to strip Pies’ premiership points, if racism claims proven
Collingwood should be stripped of premiership points if explosive new claims of racism at the club are proven in court, according to lawyers for the Pies’ former head of First Nations strategy. It comes as the club says it will defend itself against the allegations.
Tribunal: Fyfe, Uwland learn fate after challenging bans
Gold Coast’s Bodhi Uwland and Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe both fronted the tribunal on Tuesday night. SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON has the details on how they went.