{"id":895470,"date":"2026-09-17T15:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895470\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T15:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T15:44:16","slug":"afl-justin-mcinerney-returns-for-sydneys-prelim-final-vs-fremantle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895470\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL: Justin McInerney returns for Sydney\u2019s prelim final vs Fremantle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney will parachute wingman Justin McInerney back in for its blockbuster preliminary final against Fremantle.<\/p>\n

But the Swans resisted the urge to change the firing forward line that defeated Brisbane a fortnight ago, leaving Joel Amartey out of the side.<\/p>\n

McInerney (hamstring) has not played since the first week of June but has shown enough to win over coach Dean Cox.<\/p>\n

The hard-running McInerney started the season in blistering form, kicking 10 goals and recording 23 or more disposals in each of his first five matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin will play and Joel won\u2019t,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just the decision we had to make. Obviously, our forward line functioned really well the way it was set up the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand Fremantle\u2019s defence and how strong they are in that aspect of the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s on all our players \u2013 certainly in our front half \u2013 to try and nullify and kick a score that we need.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin, he\u2019s had a lot of work put in throughout this period of time and it\u2019s a matter of backing him in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amartey, who has been strongly linked to a move to Carlton at season\u2019s end, did not earn an immediate return after the Swans\u2019 nine-goal demolition of the Lions.<\/p>\n

Cox said the Swans would consider bringing in another key defender to navigate Fremantle\u2019s trio of tall forwards and are sweating on Harry Cunningham\u2019s sore calf but couldn\u2019t justify changing the forward formula.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (our forwards) functioned quite well in the first final against Brisbane,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also need to acknowledge that the players that played in that forward line group \u2013 whether they be tall or small \u2013 played their role as well as we needed them to.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision was, \u2018Do we have to turn that around and change it, or do we go in with what worked?\u2019 And that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as AFL finals: Sydney opt for one bold selection but against another<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney will parachute wingman Justin McInerney back in for its blockbuster preliminary final against Fremantle. But the Swans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895471,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[392508,454653,464660,464651,453999,464664,464656,391582,404514,464655,376730,378662,385334,638,76141,407480,464652,464672,464653,64,63,55,639,464665,344358,651,6856,464679,364472,10992,101444,63365,464671,464659,92811,438263,19433,19615,28544,43961,464670,464661,464668,464663,464667,161,85,21453,670,464675,380423,464676,378533,464662,464673,376549,402355,464666,377511,464669,175806,356269,464674,128820,464678,214758,464657,464658,410274,6618,464677,464654,6624],"class_list":["post-895470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-s-defence","tag-s-end","tag-s-preliminary-final-team","tag-s-sore-calf","tag-s-trio","tag-10-goals","tag-23-or-more-disposals","tag-a-matter","tag-a-fortnight","tag-a-long-awaited-return","tag-a-lot","tag-a-move","tag-a-score","tag-afl","tag-afl-finals","tag-all-our-players","tag-amartey","tag-an-immediate-return","tag-another-key-defender","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-blistering-form","tag-bold-selection","tag-brisbane","tag-carlton","tag-coach-dean-cox-the-hard-running-mcinerney","tag-cox","tag-fremantle","tag-hamstring","tag-harry-cunningham","tag-his-first-five","tag-its-blockbuster-preliminary-final","tag-joel","tag-joel-amartey","tag-june","tag-justin","tag-line","tag-newswire-sport","tag-nine-goal-demolition","tag-one-bold-selection","tag-our-forward-line","tag-our-forwards","tag-our-front-half","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-swans","tag-sydney","tag-tall-forwards","tag-that-aspect","tag-that-forward-line-group","tag-the-decision","tag-the-firing","tag-the-first-final","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-first-week","tag-the-forward-formula","tag-the-ground","tag-the-lions-cox","tag-the-players","tag-the-season","tag-the-side-mcinerney","tag-the-swans","tag-the-urge","tag-the-way","tag-their-role","tag-their-winning-formula","tag-this-period","tag-time","tag-too-many-changes","tag-wingman-justin-mcinerney","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895470","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=895470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}