Sydney coach Dean Cox questioned over ‘horrible' body language during game

7NEWS

22-04-2025

Sydney coach Dean Cox is going through a year from hell in his first season in charge of the Swans, and once again he sat through another grim loss on the team's home deck on Sunday.
Yes, the Swans have many injury concerns, but the team's season is already in tatters and they have games against Gold Coast and the GWS Giants on the immediate horizon.
Cox, a very popular figure in the industry, is also in the gun for his demeanour and demonstrative antics during games.
Sydney's 2005 premiership coach Paul Roos said the team's performance against Port Adelaide on Sunday was 'un-Sydney' like, and he described their cavalier style as 'Globetrotter football'.
Veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson said Cox looked very flat after the Swans' Opening Round loss (also at the SCG), and she was again concerned about his body language when he moved himself to the bench (from the coaches' box) on Sunday.
'What concerned me a lot when he came to the bench during that Port Adelaide game was there were just too much drama (going on),' Wilson said on Channel 7's The Agenda Setters.
Wilson showed vision of Cox and football boss Leon Cameron on the bench, waving their arms furiously during the second half.
Cox also was 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.
Hawthorn legend Luke Hodge said coaches needed to talk to players 'about being calm and having the right mindset' in the heat of battle.
'So if you've got a coach down there losing his marbles and carrying on, that's taking the attention of the players from what's going on out there,' he said.
Collingwood premiership hero Dale Thomas said it looked 'horrible'.
'I'm happy with that being in the box but you can't be doing that if you are down on the ground, because that sends a horrible message to your players who are doing their absolute best,' Thomas said.
'But the concerns I have at the moment (for Sydney though) are with their defensive efforts, and some of them aren't very good.'
Thomas ran vision of Port Adelaide running the ball out of the Sydney forward line and then kicking an easy goal.
'Just look at the lack of cohesion once this ball is won back from Port Adelaide. So are they a pressing defence? Are they a collapsing defence? There are players going in all sorts of direction.
'They have no idea what they're doing coming forward. There's a loose handover (in there) .... That's an end to end transition through the middle of the ground (the SCG) that they play better than any other side.
'That is, again, confusion, and no doubt that is why time and again we're seeing Dean Cox with that frustration.'
'They would have gone through a defensive mode, and at the minute, they are on completely different pages.'