Player Watch #36 Joel Amartey

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Joel Amartey
Joel Amartey has shown strong form in the ruck and as a key-position player at both ends of the ground since being drafted to the Sydney Swans as a rookie ahead of season 2018. The Ghanaian-Australian produced arguably his best performance of the 2019 season against Sydney University in Round 6, which saw him collect 42 hit-outs and a goal. In season 2020, he made his AFL debut against Brisbane Lions in Round 17 after producing some strong individual performances in scrimmage matches, and impressed with eight hit-outs and two inside 50.

Joel Amartey
DOB: 02 September 1999
DEBUT: 2020
DRAFT: #28, 2017 Rookie Elevation
RECRUITED FROM: Beaumaris (Vic)/Mentone Gram (Vic)/Sandringham U18

 
Jul 20, 2001
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What is his injury? Hopefully nothing serious.

Some kind of leg injury either knee or ankle (though leaning towards ankle). Haven’t been told how serious or even what it is really.

We probably won’t ever know though as the club don’t seem to add rookies to the injury list in general (aside from AJ).
 

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Some kind of leg injury either knee or ankle (though leaning towards ankle). Haven’t been told how serious or even what it is really.

We probably won’t ever know though as the club don’t seem to add rookies to the injury list in general (aside from AJ).

It’s all part of the plan to make the rookies catch everyone by surprise with their brilliance. Remember last year we were questioning if Ben Ronke existed?
 

Crust

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Given our current ruck problems, what is the story with Amartey?
The Swans website says:

"Joel Amartey has shown strong form in the ruck and as a key-position player at both ends of the ground since being drafted to the Sydney Swans as a rookie ahead of season 2018. The Ghanaian-Australian produced arguably his best performance of the 2019 season against Sydney University in Round 6, which saw him collect 42 hit-outs and a goal. He was in calculations for an AFL debut late in the 2019 season as the Swans looked to fill the void left by injured ruckmen Sam Naismith and Callum Sinclair, and while he didn’t earn a call-up, he’s pushing hard in 2020. "


The player watch thread for him is positive, but the last post was in May 2019.

All this suggest he is developing well. he is only 20, and the conventional wisdom is that rucks are useless until they are 23 at least.

Obviously no footy for him this year, but I ask those who have watched him - how is/was he travelling? Is he developing well? Do you think he is a long term prospect?
 
Jul 20, 2001
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Given our current ruck problems, what is the story with Amartey?
The Swans website says:

"Joel Amartey has shown strong form in the ruck and as a key-position player at both ends of the ground since being drafted to the Sydney Swans as a rookie ahead of season 2018. The Ghanaian-Australian produced arguably his best performance of the 2019 season against Sydney University in Round 6, which saw him collect 42 hit-outs and a goal. He was in calculations for an AFL debut late in the 2019 season as the Swans looked to fill the void left by injured ruckmen Sam Naismith and Callum Sinclair, and while he didn’t earn a call-up, he’s pushing hard in 2020. "


The player watch thread for him is positive, but the last post was in May 2019.

All this suggest he is developing well. he is only 20, and the conventional wisdom is that rucks are useless until they are 23 at least.

Obviously no footy for him this year, but I ask those who have watched him - how is/was he travelling? Is he developing well? Do you think he is a long term prospect?

Amartey got injured in March (I think) and has been on the road to recovery, I think he might be back training now.

As for him, I am not particularly confident. In my opinion:
- too short to be a permanent ruck at AFL level (forward ruck at best)
- in my opinion he isn’t competitive enough for AFL level as a key position player
- is not strong enough in the contest for AFL level as a key position player


Happy to be proven wrong, however I don’t think he will be on our list in 2021.
 
Amartey got injured in March (I think) and has been on the road to recovery, I think he might be back training now.

As for him, I am not particularly confident. In my opinion:
- too short to be a permanent ruck at AFL level (forward ruck at best)
- in my opinion he isn’t competitive enough for AFL level as a key position player
- is not strong enough in the contest for AFL level as a key position player


Happy to be proven wrong, however I don’t think he will be on our list in 2021.

Off topic. This isn't the Sam Reid thread.
 

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Jul 20, 2001
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Off topic. This isn't the Sam Reid thread.

We will call Amartey a poor mans Sam Reid then (who you can argue is a poor man for someone else)!

Sam was a far superior player at the same age and whilst he might not have developed as we had wished, Amartey won’t even get close (imo!).
 
Jul 9, 2014
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Thought I’d give this thread a little bump... sure ppl will have something to post later on today.
Really curious to see how Big Joel goes today. Been a tough year to develop a player of his type, that needs to grow his consistency and drive.
Best of luck lad!
Don’t forget your angry pills
 

dazedjosh

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How did he go?

If I'm being generous, I seem to remember there were at least hitouts in the second half where he won the contest, he tried to get to every loose ball that was in his area (though that didn't happen very often), and he made a contest in a couple of marks. Realistically he was pretty anonymous.

For a ruckman making a debut in those conditions, it can't have been easy. I'm not convinced that we keep him for 2021 off the back of that performance, but I'd like to see him get a second game this weekend to prove himself. Sinclair is coming to the end, Naismith is out for the year, I'm assuming Knoll won't be with us next year, having a genuine ruck to act as an emergency would at worst free up McLean and Aliir to focus on their games forward and back
 

Crust

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I think whether he plays this week will be telling.
If we intend to keep him, then he should play. Valuable experience.
If we don't intend to keep him there is no point in playing him.
 

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