{"id":893922,"date":"2026-09-16T09:26:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:26:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/893922\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:26:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:26:24","slug":"afl-news-2026-sydney-swans-logan-mcdonald-hails-impact-of-charlie-curnow-ahead-of-preliminary-final-vs-fremantle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/893922\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Sydney Swans\u2019 Logan McDonald hails impact of Charlie Curnow ahead of preliminary final vs Fremantle"},"content":{"rendered":"

In November 2020, an 18-year-old Logan McDonald packed his bags, took a flight from Perth to Sydney<\/a>, and joined Lance Franklin<\/a> at the Swans. He was \u201cin absolute awe\u201d of the AFL<\/a> legend. <\/p>\n

Six years on, the former No.4 draft pick is sharing a forward line with another superstar spearhead, three-time Coleman Medal winner Charlie Curnow<\/a>, as the Swans chase a grand final berth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Logan McDonald celebrates with Charlie Curnow.\u00a0Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very fortunate to play with two of the best forwards ever,\u201d McDonald said ahead of Sydney\u2019s preliminary final against Fremantle<\/a> at the SCG on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when I came in very young with Bud, I was in absolute awe of him and just looked up to him with everything he could do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis training standards were as good as I\u2019ve ever seen. He trained so hard, and even though his body probably didn\u2019t allow him to at times, he didn\u2019t let a moment go to waste. I was very lucky to sort of sit back my first couple of years and watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for Curnow?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so grateful that the club got him,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a good person. We\u2019ve obviously seen what he can do on the field, but the way he\u2019s helped my development and tried to put me in positions to succeed has really helped bring the best out of me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy that he\u2019s had the year that he\u2019s had because he deserves every bit of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curnow draws the opposition\u2019s best key defender every week. At the SCG on Friday night, he\u2019ll be rumbling with Fremantle captain Alex Pearce.<\/p>\n

Having a superstar key forward of Curnow\u2019s ilk roaming around allows McDonald to thrive as second fiddle. In that role in Sydney\u2019s thumping qualifying final win over Brisbane<\/a>, he booted a career-high six goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep trying to tell everyone how good Charlie is because all the attention goes to him,\u201d McDonald laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re obviously going to be a better team, and I\u2019m going to be a better player, sitting alongside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe makes us all walk taller. I\u2019ve run out of words to describe him. He\u2019s been awesome for me and the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sydney superstar Charlie Curnow.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

McDonald joked that Sydney would have to keep Fremantle\u2019s \u2018Wharfie Time\u2019 craze at bay.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for Sydney, Wharfie Time \u2013 a quirky activation strategically used in tight games where a boat smashes through huge waves on the big screen after the sound of a deep gong and the intro to AC\/DC\u2019s Hells Bells \u2013 happens at Optus Stadium and nowhere else.<\/p>\n

It could be said, however, that Wharfie Time is also a metaphor for a Freo team at full flight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll look to quieten Wharfie Time,\u201d McDonald laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully that doesn\u2019t get going in Sydney. Our fans have been great all year. We like to protect our home ground, so we\u2019ll try to make it as hard as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In November 2020, an 18-year-old Logan McDonald packed his bags, took a flight from Perth to Sydney, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":893923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-893922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893922","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=893922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}