Despite a nine-game winning streak that has put the Swans three games clear atop the table, former Sydney coach Paul Roos has claimed that the team has not even approached their greatest basketball.
The former Swans coach talked about the team’s comeback from a four-goal deficit to defeat the Crows in Adelaide, especially forward Joel Amartey’s outstanding nine-goal effort, on ABC’s AFL Daily podcast.
“The Sydney Swans have a lot of development (in them), which is scary for the rest of the competition,” In the latter part of the season, they have a lot of potential,” Roos remarked.
Paul Roos, the coach who won the premiership, joins host Catherine Murphy to offer you your daily fix of AFL talk. In this smart, funny, and thought-provoking discussion, the team provides you with background information and nuance that goes beyond the headlines.
By no means are they playing the best football of their lives. How many times have we witnessed them trailing five goals at the half in a game? They weren’t playing their best football against the Crows; I believe they were down four or five.
“It was probably spoken by (coach) John Longmire following the match. It’s frightening, and I completely agree.
“They have some gaps in the strategy, but they can still cover them and come away with the victory.”
Since losing to Richmond by five points in the fourth round, the Swans have not lost. However, they have trailed at the quarters in five of their last six games, including a 29-point deficit to Geelong in round 14 at the SCG, before coming back to win each of the five.
After Lance Franklin’s retirement this season, Amartey, who has been with the Swans for six years, truly came into his own.
Between 2020 and 2022, Amartey participated in 13 games in total. The previous season, he played in 15 games, and in 2024, he has participated in all 13 of Sydney’s games. This season, the 24-year-old has more than quadrupled his career goal total, kicking 31.13 to lead the Swans in scoring.
Against the Crows, Amartey did not touch the ball in the opening quarter with Sydney under fierce pressure from the home side in Adelaide. But back-to-back four goal quarters saw the forward end the night with 9.1 in Sydney’s big win.
“If you said they had a weakness, and it’s hard to have a weakness when you’ve only lost one game, the potential for the opposition, you’d say, ‘look their bigs, they’re relying too much on their mids to kick goals’,” Roos said.
“Suddenly you’ve got nine goals from one of your key forwards, and that’s a big change…when you’re looking at the Swans now.
“You’re not just saying we’re going to get beaten by Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner and Errol Gulden.”
Roos said that the presence of a superstar forward in Lance Franklin and the strength of the Swans’ system had allowed players like Amartey time to develop without pressure. But Franklin’s retirement had now changed the focus of Sydney’s attack.
“Now, when you’re coming down the ground, this is the tough thing to play against Sydney. You can’t target any one player in their forward line, because they don’t rely on that figure to kick all their goals.
“And that’s where I said before, the opportunity this weekend was for Joel Amartey. Nine goals. The week before, (Tom) Papley kicked four, their midfield’s a goal-kicking midfield.
“So, right time, right place, great system, and a player that’s persevered and I suspect has worked really hard on his craft. To kick nine goals in an AFL game is an exceptional effort.”
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