Swan kicks NINE as Crows crumble in shock surge; 'scary' machine ...

Joel Amartey bagged a career-best nine goals to help Sydney complete a comeback win over Adelaide to run away 42-point victors, 16.13 (109) to 10.7 (67).

Adelaide led by as much as 23 points late in the second term before the Swans, Amartey in particular, flipped the script, with the gun forward kicking eight goals in the second and third quarters alone.

On a night he’ll never forget, Amartey booted 9.1 from 10 kicks, his ninth coming with 10 minutes left in the game, but double figures eluded him after John Longmire called him to the bench for the remaining two minutes of the contest.

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The mighty Swans’ juggernaut rolled into town two wins clear on top of the ladder, on an eight-game winning streak, but the home side responded after two poor losses to lead by 23 points in the second term.

The Crows did well to withstand Amartey’s second-quarter onslaught and led by 16 points when Jake Soligo goaled 16 minutes into the third quarter, but Sydney kicked the next 10 goals of the contest, four of them to Amartey, to improve to a 12-1 record.

The 3-2-1 (what we learned) ...

3. AMARTEY PARTY EXPLODES WITH CAREER-BEST NINE GOALS

When you’re hot, you’re hot.

And after quiet start to the game, Joel Amartey was scorching hot, kicking a career-best nine goals in an Amartey party he’ll never forget.

It included the Swans gun booting four goals in each in the second and third quarters to completely flip the script after Sydney was on the backfoot early and looking vulnerable of dropping its second game of 2024.

Not on Amartey’s watch, with his bag of nine goals the most of any AFL player this year.

The last Swan to kick eight goals or more? A man by the name of Lance Franklin back in Round 1, 2018.

Amartey’s nine-goal haul, from just 10 disposals, saw him move from equal 15th to fifth in the Coleman Medal race in a remarkable surge, bringing his season tally to 31 majors.

“No way known (could anyone have predicted) it would be Joel Amartey v the Adelaide Crows,” Saints legend Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy.

“Halfway through that term we thought Adelaide was doing brilliantly … it looked like an upset.

“The all of a sudden the Sydney Swans dropped the hammer and went to another gear and Adelaide couldn’t go with them.

“It was off the back of this man … what a performance.”

So quiet was Amartey early that he didn’t touch the ball in the first quarter at all before turning the tide and then some — like that of Sydney as a whole. It was just a shame he finished the fourth quarter on the bench to be denied the chance to hit double figures.

No matter, it was a career-best night from the 24-year old, topping his previous best goalkicking tally of four.

2. ‘SCARY’ SWANS MACHINE ROLLS ON

Hawks legend Jason Dunstall put it best — the Swans are “just a scary team.”

Trailing Adelaide by 23 points late in the second term and 16 points late in the third term, it was a game that had the makings of an upset (and Sydney could’ve been forgiven for having an off night) in Adelaide.

But John Longmire’s team flicked the switch in a major way.

The Swans kicked 10 of the 13 goals after half-time to charge ahead of Adelaide and ultimately power to a big 42-point win, further boosting their lead at the top of the ladder – now three games and healthy percentage clear.

And so just like against Geelong last week when Sydney conceded the first six goals then came back to win, it showed no lead is safe against this dominant force.

“Sydney just get this surge and completely dominate,” Hawks legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy post-match.

“Imagine what it’s doing for the confidence of the Swans players. Any game now when they trail they’d just say: ‘We’re going to come hard because we know what our back-end of games is like’.

“It was just super impressive ... three games plus percentage clear (on top of the ladder). It feels like that’s the gap at the moment too.”

Roos great David King was in awe of how Sydney’s match-winners step up when they need to including Brodie Grundy (31 touches, 23 contested, 49 hit-outs), Errol Gulden (35 disposals) and Isaac Heeney (29 possessions, two goals) all shining alongside Amartey (nine goals).

“Power wins premierships,” King said on Fox Footy.

“When they can play like that, they just know – whether they’re a goal down, three goals down, five goals down – they can drop the hammer and go bang.

“(Chad) Warner, Gulden, Heeney, Grundy … the game needs them and they say: ‘Righto, my turn’, and they step up time after time.

“They did it against Geelong — kicked five goals in 10 minutes and six goals in 12 minutes tonight. Awesome to watch.”

Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna meanwhile believes the Swans have gone to another level since their bye following stirring comeback wins over Geelong and Adelaide.

Montagna also thinks the dominance of Sydney’s star-studded midfield has overshadowed how good a shape the rest of its game is in.

“We spoke at the bye about how well Sydney is going this year. The question was can they sustain this? Well they’ve actually gone to another level, which is scary for the rest of the competition,” Montagna told Fox Footy.

“To find another avenue to goal (Amartey). We know about the midfield. The defence I think is getting underrated because of these superstars – systematically what they are doing behind the ball and rarely they get beaten.

“Their pressure is elite. They are just ticking every box, they are flying ... they are that far ahead of the rest of the competition.”

1. RANKINE IMPRESSES IN RETURN

The Crows didn’t get the four points, but boy did having Izak Rankine back make a difference … particularly in the first half.

Rankine was busy with two goals in the first half to bring a spark to Adelaide Oval it hasn’t had since prior to his hamstring injury in Round 10.

The forward/midfielder simply makes such a difference in this Crows side and a much more dangerous proposition moving forward.

“What you know about Izak Rankine is he doesn’t need to have 30 touches. He can, but he doesn’t need to have it all,” Hawks legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy at half-time.

“As long as he’s hitting the scoreboard, if he’s having less possessions but getting them in the forward half, that’s OK, because he can have a real impact.”

Saints great Leigh Montagna likened the role Rankine plays to Shai Bolton and Christian Petracca, starting in the midfield then drifting forward.

Dual premiership Kangaroo David King was also full of praise of how dangerous Rankine was, calling him the “best forward 50 stoppage player in the competition”.

“If he can get to forward 50 stoppages and engage Heeney, Gulden or Warner, it’s a huge win for them. They’re defensively not capable of locking him down,” King said on Fox Footy at half-time.

“That (second) goal shouldn’t come as a shock to the Swans mids who weren’t ready to clamp him.”

As it happened ...

There were no late changes, with Sam Berry (Adelaide) and Matt Roberts (Sydney) named the starting subs.

Will Hayward missed an opportunity to goal in the first 30 seconds before nearly taking a huge hanger — kneeing the returning Nick Murray’s head in the process.

Adelaide got off to a hot start, with Darcy Fogarty kicking the opening goal followed by Josh Rachele after a brave mark.

“Outstanding start for the Crows,” Channel 7 caller Jude Bolton noted.

Taylor Adams finally kicked Sydney’s opening major, but the red-hot Crows responded with great finishes from Lachie Sholl and Jordan Dawson in an ideal start for the home side.

Chad Warner kicked an important goal to get Sydney within 11 points before instantly giving away a free kick in an unusual sequence, but Adelaide couldn’t capitalise at the other end.

Adelaide led 4.2 (26) to 2.3 (15) at the first break.

Joel Amartey kicked the important first goal of the term for Sydney to bring it back to a 12-point game.

The Crows went into their shell from there and weren’t playing with the same freedom as in the opening term.

That was until Izak Rankine stepped up with a goal out of nothing from a boundary throw in as the Adelaide Oval crowd went off to regain some much-needed breathing space for the home side.

Within the blink of an eye, it was game on again after Joel Amartey kicked two goals in 30 seconds late in the second term to reduce Adelaide’s lead to 10 points.

Amartey wasn’t done there, kicking his best goal yet — a freakish snap around his body — his fourth major of the term to get the Swans within three points.

It meant Adelaide, who led by as much as 23 points in the period, took just a four-point advantage into half-time, 7.4 (46) to 6.6 (42).

It was an arm wrestle to start the third term, with neither side giving an inch.

Fogarty eventually took a big mark inside 50 and kicked his second goal of the night before Jake Soligo followed with another to push Adelaide’s lead back out to 16 points.

Amartey continued his hot form though, kicking three more goals in the third term — to make it an outright career-best seven — to give the Swans the lead.

Taylor Adams drew a free kick in front of goal after getting shoved by Mitch Hinge and kicked truly to continue Sydney’s run.

Amartey added a fourth goal — his eighth for the match — to give Sydney a 21-point lead at the final change, 12.9 81) to 9.6 (60).

The rest of the Swans joined in the party in the fourth quarter with goals to Isaac Heeney and Tom Papley to open up a 34-point lead.

Amartey further added to his tally though with a ninth goal after Hayward pinpointed a pass to him.

The gun forward bizarrely spent the last few minutes on the bench as Sydney cruised to a comprehensive victory.

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