First-year coach Dean Cox in the gun as ‘fractured' Sydney Swans continue to fall

7NEWS

3 days ago

The Sydney Swans continue to be savaged after their embarrassing performance at the SCG against Adelaide on Saturday.
Not only have the players been questioned and punished with a 6am beach session, but first-year coach Dean Cox is also in the line of fire.
The Swans were belted by Brisbane in the grand final last year, sparking a coaching handover from John Longmire to Cox.
And at the start of this year, Cox revealed that he and his players had conducted a seven-and-a-half hour review of the lopsided battle, with the first five minutes of the game alone taking one hour to unpack.
History suggests teams that are belted in a grand final don't recover the following year, but AFL great Nick Riewoldt said on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters that there was more to it than that, and the Swans were 'broken'.
Last year's grand final and that marathon review
'I'm a part of one of those teams (that was thumped in a grand final) so I can speak from experience,' said Riewoldt, a former St Kilda captain.
He said Sydney were not too dissimilar to St Kilda in 2009-2010, with Saints copping a hiding in the replayed grand final of 2010.
'(They've had) two beltings in three years in grand finals, and I just think this has gone so far past personnel now and who's not playing,' he said.
'We'll get into that with Tom Papley and Errol Gulden and a lot of these guys (missing), but for me the spirit of this group is broken,' he said.
'And I think there comes a point when you've invested so much, and then you get to the biggest day where all your dreams are meant to come true, and you have your heart broken not once, but twice.
'You get to a point where the emotional risk to put yourself back out there again, almost like a relationship, to potentially have your heart broken again, it becomes too great.'
Riewoldt also questioned Cox's marathon review of the grand final.
'To me, I think it's coming in and trying to stamp your authority on the group, and sort of starting with a bang, and I think it's had the adverse effect on this group that would already have been broken from the performance itself,' he said.
Dale Thomas, a Collingwood premiership hero, said: 'The emotional scars, you are saying, are worse than the performance itself.'
Riewoldt: 'Absolutely. I think this goes way beyond talent. I think this is about investment from your players and putting themselves out there.'
Riewoldt said the review was pretty much a pointless exercise, and would have rubbed salt in the wounds.
He said St Kilda were really struggling at the start of the 2011 season and it took them a long time to turn it around (they finished sixth with 12 wins and nine losses).
Don't fix what's not broken
Sydney won the minor premiership last year, and Cox inherited a pretty decent team lightly sprinkled with superstars.
But the new coach decided to experiment with positions which has produced a mixed bag of results. Fringe forward Sam Wicks was moved to defence, and so far that has received a pass mark.
But Tom McCartin (the team's best tall defender) was tried up forward and that experiment was a clear fail. Braedyn Campbell has also been locked in as a forward and the jury is still out on that move as he continues to rack up game time.
Corey Warner and Caiden Cleary have also had charmed runs in the team, where they were subs or VFL players last year under Longmire
Riewoldt also thinks Cox has 'over corrected' in the game style.
'(Last year) they were an expressive team,' Riewoldt said.
'They got the footy, they used it, they took the game on ... You go back to the 2005 grand final that they were celebrating (on Saturday), they were dour. They were hard to play against.
'It looks like Cox has tried to flip them back into that style of game. Maybe that's because of necessity, no Gulden, no Papley, but I still think how you play is how you play.
'So to me, the group is fractured. The group is broken. And this isn't a click your finger and it's going to turn around, for me this is a lot of work ahead.'
Why Gulden's absence hurts so much
Errol Gulden is only 22 years old and already a two-time All-Australian and has has won a Sydney best-and-fairest.
But he brings an intangible to the teams, as well, with his discipline, attention to detail during games, and and support for his teammates.
This year the Swans have gifted goals to the opposition through undisciplined acts and 50m penalties, while also losing several players to suspension, including midfielder Justin McInerney (twice).
Dale Thomas said Sydney also desperately missed Gulden's 'skill and class'.
'He's become the most important player in their side,' Thomas said on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters.
Gulden was No.1 for disposals last season, No.1 for uncontested possessions, No.1 for score involvement, No.1 for score assists, and No.1 inside 50s.
He had 40 more inside-50s than the Sydney's next player last year.
'You think about what they're missing at the minute, it is somebody with (Gulden's) skill and class to deliver the ball in the forward 50,' Thomas said.
Last year Nick Blakey was also an All-Australian due to his daring run out of the backline and his deadly left-foot delivery.
And Riewoldt said Blakey was the obvious replacement for Gulden.
'(Gulden's replacement) is in the team. It's Nick Blakey, but right now he's sitting on half-back and he's rotting,' Riewoldt said.
'So there are mechanisms you can pull within this group.
'Dean Cox got creative with Tom McCartin to start the season. Get creative with your most dangerous player, Nick Blakey.
'Get him on a wing. Get him on the ball. Just, just do something to free (the other players up).'
Thomas said the absence of Gulden really exposed 'the lack of depth' in Sydney's list.
'That's what it's done. Because that Gulden, Heeney and Warner combination covered a lot of it. Now (that the trio aren't together), the best players aren't playing well and the bottom six are contributing less.'
Cox's body language
Meanwhile, veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson has continued her criticisms of Dean Cox and his body language.
'I need a bit more positive leadership than that,' Wilson said on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters after watching Cox speak in the aftermath of the team's loss to Adelaide.
'I'm sorry, there has been a lot of body language from Dean that I've been watching all year, and I think it's reminiscent of coaches in their first year.
'Doesn't mean they're not going to work it out, but I don't think he knows how to behave at the moment, and he's not behaving in a way that is going to instill confidence in his players.'
Wilson was critical of Cox after the Swans' Opening Round loss (to Hawthorn), and she was concerned about his body language when he moved himself to the bench during the Swans' loss to Port Adelaide.
Cox also seen holding his head in his hands in pure frustration in the second half when Port Adelaide kicked the first goal of the third term.
'I think if you're seeing that as a player ... I don't think you want to see that,' she said.
Expert commentator Kane Cornes agreed.
'If you're going to be on the bench, there needs to be positivity. You've got to be engaging with your players, talking instructions, otherwise get up to the box where your players can't see it,' Cornes said.
After the loss to Adelaide, Cox slammed the performance, saying it was 'unacceptable and embarrassing'.
Making matters worse, the loss played out in front of Sydney's 2005 premiership team who had a famous team-first ethos and were given a lap of honour at half-time.
'I didn't expect that on such a massive night for the footy club, when you have a 20-year reunion for a team that played desperate, uncompromising, ruthless football,' Cox said after the loss.
'That was far from it.'
Cox is no stranger to Sydney's Bloods ethos, with the six-time All-Australian ruck's last-gasp kick famously marked by Leo Barry in the final seconds of the low-scoring 2005 grand final.
But Cox wondered if he had done enough for the clash against Adelaide.
'Yeah, maybe not,' Cox said.
'That's where you've got to reflect on everything within the program, and it starts with me.
'We are going to fight our way through this.
'And there's going to be no easy way through it. I said to them (the players), expect some tough sessions. That'll happen.'