reports Amartey and the Swans are currently some ways apart on a new deal<\/a> as Victorian clubs monitor the former Sandringham Dragons player\u2019s situation. <\/p>\nBut Amartey doesn\u2019t read into the speculation around his future and says he\u2019s focused on continuing to play his role for the red-hot Swans. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t pay much attention to it. That\u2019s what you\u2019ve got your manager for, to handle all that stuff behind the scenes,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully I can keep putting up good performances and playing my role for the team. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting group to be a part of at the moment, since we\u2019re going so well, and we\u2019re still building, which is nice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blakey dishes out FIERY bump | 00:24<\/p>\n
While Amartey has taken his game to new heights in 2026, Charlie Curnow produced his best performance of the season on Thursday night after a slightly slow start to life in red and white. <\/p>\n
Curnow booted seven goals against the Dogs to deliver what the Swans would\u2019ve envisioned when they made their high-profile move for the dual Coleman medallist. <\/p>\n
Amartey says he, Curnow and the rest of the Swans forwards are \u201cstill building\u201d and want to be a multi-pronged attack. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re getting a lot of space up there with Logan (McDonald) as well and \u2018Chady\u2019 (Warner) coming down playing a bit deeper in that last quarter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all feel dangerous at any given time, so you don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to get off the chain. <\/p>\n
\u201cGood for Charlie, he got his lick tonight. He gave a few off, he probably should\u2019ve had 10, I reckon!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great.\u201d <\/p>\n
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 23: Joel Amartey of the Swans celebrates after scoring a goal during the round seven AFL match between Western Bulldogs and Sydney Swans at Marvel Stadium, on April 23, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Even if Curnow hasn\u2019t necessarily been firing on all cylinders prior to Thursday night, Amartey said the star recruit has been an \u201cunbelievable\u201d addition to Dean Cox\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wouldn\u2019t have lost a contest all year, basically. Maybe a couple to Tom Barrass against Hawthorn,\u201d Amartey continued. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe way he competes is unbelievable and our smalls and mids are getting so many good looks off his contest work and Logan\u2019s contest work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might not be (Curnow\u2019s) lick every week, but \u2018Paps\u2019 (Tom Papley) kicking three or four is of his work. It\u2019s really good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, having that added threat in Sydney\u2019s forward line has crucially helped Amartey get off the leash more.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe takes the other team\u2019s best key back every week,\u201d Amartey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe flip around, we\u2019re building our synergy each week. One up, one back, sort of thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll credit goes to the boys up the field \u2014 me and him just create our depth and the boys run through. It\u2019s been a really exciting start to the year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star Swans forward Joel Amartey says he\u2019s still simply grateful to be playing AFL every week in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,114589,258234,303658,64,63,689,55,639,684,303657,31213,1129,12148,12180,303655,2105,647,673,19122,677,303659,33944,68999,3247,146122,85,303656,670,7200,69078,660,698],"class_list":{"0":"post-626700","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-agency-call","10":"tag-agency-decision","11":"tag-all-important-contract","12":"tag-au","13":"tag-australia","14":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","15":"tag-australian-football-league","16":"tag-australianfootballleague","17":"tag-ben-cotton","18":"tag-boys-run","19":"tag-career-best-season","20":"tag-charlie-curnow","21":"tag-dean-cox","22":"tag-dominant-display","23":"tag-foxfooty-com-au-post-match","24":"tag-getty-images-inc","25":"tag-melbourne","26":"tag-new-south-wales","27":"tag-nick-blakey","28":"tag-oceania","29":"tag-pretty-fortunate-place","30":"tag-quarter-goal","31":"tag-rivals-circle","32":"tag-robert-cianflone","33":"tag-slow-start","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-swans-superstar","36":"tag-sydney","37":"tag-sydney-swans","38":"tag-tom-barrass","39":"tag-victoria","40":"tag-western-bulldogs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626700","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=626700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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