Star midfielder will return for the Sydney Swans’ final regular-season game against Adelaide on Saturday at the SCG, as the team attempts to build on back-to-back victories over Collingwood and Essendon ahead of the finals.
With the September play-offs approaching, coach John Longmire has refrained from resting several frontline players, with just defender Tom McCartin being managed.
The Swans are poised to win their first minor premiership since 2016, when they lost the grand final to the Western Bulldogs.
Veteran ruckman Brodie Grundy will play a significant part in neutralising Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien, who leads the AFL in hitouts. Will Hayward has been suffering with a painful knee recently, but he has prepared well enough to face the Crows.
Joel Amartey, who will play his 50th Swans game, scored a career-high nine goals against the Crows in Round 14. Since then, the crucial forward has scored just six goals in eight games, two of which came against Essendon last Friday in Melbourne.
The minor premiership is a formality for the Swans this weekend: even if they lose to Adelaide, second-placed Port must still defeat Fremantle by 204 points on Sunday. Fitzroy defeated Melbourne by 190 points in 1979, setting the AFL/VFL winning margin record.
Amartey believes the minor premiership will be appropriate acknowledgement for the Swans’ domination during the regular season, but he is well aware that the real job begins in September.
“You give yourself a little pat on the back, but you can’t drink your own bathwater,” she remarked. “But you’ve got to take the little wins when you get them, and back to that confidence piece, it just gives that back and keeps the vibe up [ahead of the finals].”
The Swans will play at the SCG during the first week of the finals, and if they win, they will stay in Sydney for a preliminary final on September 20 or 21.
The Swans have comfortably earned their biggest average SCG home crowd this season, with 38,374 dwarfing the previous greatest, 33,425 in 2016.
Amartey recognises the significance the near-capacity SCG crowds have played in the Swans’ season and is not ready to give up home advantage just yet.
“Home crowds and home ground advantages are a big thing,” Amartey claimed. “Playing in front of the Swans supporters here is the biggest advantage I believe we can have, and being at home and not having to travel as much is always a bonus. I believe the home crowd advantage and the atmosphere that we create at the SCG are unparalleled.”
Since his debut in 2020 in a 32-point loss to Brisbane in Cairns, Amartey has battled to acclimatise to the physical and mental rigours of AFL, suffering from niggling ailments and loss.
Amartey worked closely with Lance Franklin on and off the pitch before retiring last season, and he has two takeaways from the champion fullback’s decorated career.
“The competitiveness and the confidence are the two big things,” she remarked. “I was not the most confident player on the pitch; I am a vocal man, but on the pitch, especially early in your career, you feel a little out of place.
“Then just seeing the man like that with the confidence he has, the competitiveness he has each week, I think I drew from those (things), and it’s hopefully going to hold me in good stead for the rest of my career.”
