Sydney Swans v Carlton Blues scores, results, fixtures, teams, tips, games, how to watch

Joel Amartey’s return to the AFL is likely to be short-lived, with him and the Sydney Swans bracing for a lengthy suspension after his needless hit on Carlton’s Jordan Boyd in the dying moments of Friday night’s 16-point win.

Amartey had missed four games with a hamstring injury but recovered in time to give the Swans a badly-needed focal point in attack - but they’ll need to find another one after he put himself at the mercy of the AFL’s match review officer with a bump on Boyd that left Blues coach Michael Voss seething.

Joel Amartey of the Swans leaps for a mark against Carlton. Credit: Getty Images

With two minutes to go, and with the game safely wrapped up, Amartey lined up Boyd with a hip-and-shoulder that made heavy contact with his head.

Voss confirmed post-match that Boyd was placed under concussion protocols, ruling him out of Carlton’s clash with the Giants next weekend.

“I didn’t mean to, but I think I could be in a little bit of trouble,” Amartey said post-match.

“We’ll see what happens.”

Swans coach Dean Cox acknowledged that the 25-year-old was likely to receive a weeks-long ban.

“I’ve had a brief look at it, but that’ll be in the AFL’s hands now,” he said.

“We want to make sure that we play within the rules and this was no different. It was good to have him back. He provided a really strong focal point for our playing group. That’s what he does for our footy club.”

Voss said that Boyd, who had come into the match as a substitute for the injured Jack Silvagni (groin) at half-time, was “not doing so well” as a result of Amartey’s action.

“I’m sure that’ll get looked at, and get looked at very closely, and should be treated accordingly,” he said.

Amartey wasn’t the only Swan who may have strayed too far over the line, with a first-half incident involving Justin McInerney and Silvagni likely to also attract MRO attention, although the fact that Silvagni was cleared of any concussion - and was later taken out of the game with a muscle strain - could save him.

“One thing you want the players [to be] certainly aware of is there’s a line that you need to go to and you can’t cross it,” Cox said.

“We need to make sure that we keep reminding them of the line. And if you do cross it, there is consequence for that.

“I haven’t seen the Justin one as well as I saw the Joel one. I’ll have to go back and look at [it]. But our message to the players is get to that line, not over it.”

The Swans lost one of their own to a concussion, with utility Aaron Francis failing to see out the match after copping a thigh to the head from teammate Brodie Grundy after slipping at a marking contest.

Adam Cerra of the Blues competes with Isaac Heeney of the Swans. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images

Though Sydney are now 4-6 and in touch with the top half of the ladder after the important 11.12 (78) to 9.8 (62) victory, which was powered by star midfielders Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner, they cannot catch a break when it comes to player availability, be it through injury or suspension.

Heeney was awarded the Goodes-O’Loughlin medal as the best player on the field in Sydney’s annual Marn Grook game, racking up a career-high 38 possessions (18 contested), nine clearances and two goals.

Voss, meanwhile, was also fuming with the way his side’s effort petered out in the final term.

“They finished off the game better than us. I think that’s what makes you pretty pissed off, to be honest,” Voss said.

“We had the game where we wanted it and we couldn’t finish off the game ... it was simple things. The clearance game was pretty tough for us for most of the night. I didn’t feel like we were losing too many metres on that, but that can bank up over time. But then roles that we had, we strayed from.

Michael O’Loughlin presents Isaac Heeney of the Swans with the Goodes-O’Loughlin Medal. Credit: Getty Images

“Heeney and Warner, we put a heap of effort into our planning and we couldn’t get it done in the second half and they got off the chain. The stats are there to tell the impact that they had.

“There was some really good method in the way we played in the early parts of the game ... but you’ve got to close the deal and we weren’t good enough to close it.”

Voss held back his criticism when asked about the mistaken out-of-bounds on the full decision off Mitch McGovern that led to Heeney’s first goal.

Heeney kicked the ball into McGovern’s foot and it bounced into the turf before going out of bounds, but was called out on the full by the officiating umpire.

“Only two people in the stadium didn’t see that ball bounce,” Voss said. “It is for someone else to have an argument about [whether the ARC should be able to intervene] but only two people didn’t see the right result.

“That’s as much as I can say. I’ve probably said too much already.”

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