{"id":610108,"date":"2026-04-16T06:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/610108\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T06:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:09:20","slug":"joel-amartey-contract-talks-with-sydney-swans-new-deal-jordan-ridley-failed-move-to-brisbane-lions-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/610108\/","title":{"rendered":"Joel Amartey contract talks with Sydney Swans, new deal, Jordan Ridley failed move to Brisbane Lions, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sydney and a marquee free agent are \u201ca fair way off\u201d on a new deal. Plus another Bombers star who considered a rival move has happened up on the saga. MORE IN TRADE WHISPERS.<\/p>\n<p>Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/afl?pg=default&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkafl-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-afl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>AMARTEY, SWANS \u2018FAIR WAY OFF\u2019 ON NEW DEAL<\/p>\n<p>Swans free agent Joel Amartey and the club are reportedly \u201ca fair way off\u201d on a new contract as the two parties haggle in negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>Amartey is one of the top key forwards set to enter free agency and sure to draw interest from rival clubs.<\/p>\n<p>SEN\u2019s Sam Edmund reports while other clubs are yet to table offers to Amartey, but the 26-year old would be able to get more to leave the cash-strapped Swans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoel Amartey comes as an unrestricted free agent and he does remain a fair way off a new deal at Sydney &#8230; nothing close to being done,\u201d Edmund said on SEN Breakfast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Swans haven\u2019t yet offered Amartey a contract and we know the cap there is very much on the tight end. Bottom line is that there will be a gap between the Swans\u2019 best offer and what rivals are prepared to pay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmartey knows that too, but it\u2019s about how much less he\u2019s willing to take in his desire to stay that makes it interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swans are the kings of chaos | 03:15<\/p>\n<p>Edmund added that Amartey \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to entertain any rival offer\u201d yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe wants to see what Sydney\u2019s offer looks like but this is a forward line that has Curnow and (Logan) McDonald, (Hayden) McLean\u2019s below those two and on the periphery, but he\u2019s there at the moment as well,\u201d Edmund added. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a school of thought he was (ex-list boss) Kinnear Beatson\u2019s project of sorts as a 2018 rookie pick, but it\u2019s a relatively new list team there now headed by Chris Keane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>RIDLEY OPENS UP ON POTENTIAL BRISBANE MOVE<\/p>\n<p>Zach Merrett wasn\u2019t the only Bombers star that wanted out last off-season. <\/p>\n<p>Jordan Ridley also considered a move to Brisbane after a \u201cfrustrating,\u201d injury-crippled run at Essendon.<\/p>\n<p>But Ridley is now \u201creally glad\u201d he stayed at the Bombers, following \u201cthe hardest (year) of my career)\u201d that was \u201cgrim\u201d given the repeated setbacks.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year old just returned to the senior team last weekend in his first AFL appearance since Round 20 last year after a calf injury delayed his start to the season. <\/p>\n<p>Brad totally baffled by Butters sanction | 01:45<\/p>\n<p>He said the appointment of good mate Andy McGrath and an overhaul of Essendon\u2019s fitness staff made it a \u201cno-brainer\u201d to stick around.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was probably up in the air for a little while there,\u201d Ridley <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heraldsun.com.au\/sport\/afl\/jordan-ridley-pledges-his-future-to-essendon-after-pondering-trade-request-to-brisbane\/news-story\/e0147552d0b8eebf47f55301ff6d6f59\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">told Code Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am a very loyal person so it would have been a very difficult move for me. My best mates are here and our captain (Andrew McGrath) is one of my closest mates in the world. It would have been hard to leave them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I saw the direction of the club, especially the moves they were making in the high performance department, it was a no-brainer. I had to give it another shot. And I am really glad I have.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInness had a different approach to what we had previously. Rightly or wrongly. I am not a sports scientist but he gave me all the evidence. He showed me some case studies of Jeremy McGovern back in the day who had some hammies and had an All Australian year after Matty got there. We aren\u2019t super like-for-like but a key back is a key back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith his presence, he\u2019s so level and calm about the way he does it, because footy can be so high and so low.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney and a marquee free agent are \u201ca fair way off\u201d on a new deal. Plus another Bombers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,36846,106612,64,63,689,55,639,696,651,3237,5340,123143,1818,295599,296578,18007,132516,123893,677,296582,296579,296581,6082,701,244523,296580,110625,1124,85,275256,7200,11236,12920,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-610108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-andrew-mcgrath","10":"tag-andy-mcgrath","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-football-league","15":"tag-australianfootballleague","16":"tag-brad-scott","17":"tag-brisbane","18":"tag-brisbane-lions","19":"tag-calf-injury","20":"tag-chris-keane","21":"tag-david-king","22":"tag-failed-move","23":"tag-fair-way","24":"tag-jeremy-mcgovern","25":"tag-key-back","26":"tag-list-team","27":"tag-oceania","28":"tag-offer-looks","29":"tag-parties-haggle","30":"tag-performance-department","31":"tag-port-adelaide","32":"tag-queensland","33":"tag-rival-move","34":"tag-rival-offer","35":"tag-rookie-pick","36":"tag-south-australia","37":"tag-sports","38":"tag-sports-scientist","39":"tag-sydney-swans","40":"tag-trade-news","41":"tag-trade-whispers","42":"tag-tribunal-case"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}