Dean Cox inflicts brutal act on Sydney Swans players after thrashing in AFL grand final
The Swans coach made his squad sit through a "tough" review of their AFL grand final flop.
Swans coach Dean Cox believes his squad has exorcised their demons after undergoing a "tough" review of their AFL grand final demolition at the hands of the Lions. Some two months on from their 60-point hammering, Cox opted to forego the opening training session to conduct a day-long review with his players about exactly what went wrong.
While some clubs have decided against reliving their grand final heartbreak, it was the first thing Cox made his players do so they could meticulously pull apart the performance and address their shortcomings. After being the benchmark of the 2024 season and heading into the grand final as favourites and minor premiers, Sydney were played off the park by the Lions in an 18.12 (120) to 9.6 (60) flogging and Cox says there were plenty of lessons that needed to be taken from the defeat.
"That was our last performance," Cox said. "To be able to ... stare it in the face, to learn from it - that's the only way you can go forward. That's why we had to do it.
"We moved our training session to today, actually, on the field because we needed to address it. It was brave for them. It was tough to go back and watch, but they were open to it. They wanted to do it, and so did myself and us as a football club."
The loss marked the fourth consecutive grand final defeat for the Swans following losses to Hawthorn in 2014, the Bulldogs in 2016 and Geelong two seasons ago. And former Swans coach Paul Roos - who engineered the end of the Swans' 72-year premiership drought back in 2005 - called out the side's failure to adapt to MCG conditions and urged the club to do a deep dive into what went wrong.
"They've dramatically changed their game plan this year,” Roos told ABC Sport in October. "They are no longer a hard, tough, defensive team that is hard to score against. They are a team that’s hard to beat because they’re so talented, but they’re not hard to play against.
"They play a style that suits their home ground, which is further exposed on the MCG. How many times do we look at the screen (in the grand final) … very, very rarely there are more Swans players in the frame than Lions players. They didn’t even get numbers to the contest, which I think is the bigger concern."
Dean Cox's Swans tactics to focus on strong defence
Roos wasn't the only one who saw the lack of defensive structure as a problem, with Cox declaring defence will be the key "flavour" in his new game plan. The 43-year-old declared that he is confident with the new tactics Sydney will not only return to the big stage but take out the flag.
"We'll change a fair bit (of the game plan). Being a new coach, you'll always have a flavour on the way that you want to play," Cox said. "The best sides in the world defend really well first.
"The way that we defended in our contest (in the grand final) was really poor. We want to be a team that when the stakes get higher, that's what we turn to. That's what we go to and we deliver on that. And we weren't able to do that.
"It's behind us now, but you've got to take plenty of lessons from it. No doubt this football club will play in some big matches to come and when we get there, we'll be ready for it."
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Chad Warner re-signing is a main focus for Dean Cox
Securing Chad Warner's signature remains high on Cox's agenda ahead of the new season, with the midfielder's contract up at the end of 2025. The West Australian-born star is the subject of great interest by the Perth clubs and even reportedly played golf with West Coast chief executive Don Pyke and offsider Kieren Jack in the off-season.
But Cox doesn't believe the friendly swing suggests in any way he is sussing out a move West. "We take it at face value," Cox said.
"He's certainly known Don and Kieren from his time here. 'Pykey' coached here for a long period of time. For us ... it's about trying to create a football club that Chad wants to be a part of, going forward."
with AAP
