Process over panic: Dean Cox on family, failure and year two at the Swans

Ahead of his second season as head coach of the Sydney Swans, Dean Cox’s office tells the story. The whiteboard is filled with diagrams that hint at the early mornings, late nights and stress that come with the job, as well as planning for the opening round of the 2026 AFL season against Carlton at the SCG.

Moving to his desk, it is clear what will always drive Cox. There is a photo of his wife, Kerry, and daughters, Charlotte and Isabella, and an aerial shot of his home town, Dampier in Western Australia, 5000km away from the SCG. While facing immense challenges in his first season, with the Swans eventually finishing 10th and missing the finals, Cox was also performing an impossible balancing act.

Coach Dean Cox with his team at Moore Park for their team photo on Tuesday.Credit: Sam Mooy

“One thing my wife always said when I started was, ‘When you get home you’re a dad, not a coach’,” Cox said.

“There are still times now where she goes, ‘I’d rather you spend time on your phone in the car out the front until you’re finished and then come in and be present’.

“So I tried to have that and she would constantly remind me. Did I do it probably as well as I could have? No. But it’s also part of the job that you need to understand, that after our work it’s a constant thing.

“It was trying to deal with it the best way I could; doing all the stuff with the kids and then doing your work again late at night, like I know a lot of other people in other fields do.”

Swans coach Dean Cox.Credit: Sam Mooy

The Swans won two games out of their first seven last year, providing Cox with a mountain that proved impossible to climb as they missed the finals. Ultimately, the 11 losses last season provided Cox with his best learning material as a head coach, specifically against Adelaide in May when the Swans were hammered by 90 points in front of a stunned SCG crowd.

“It came to a head against Adelaide – as a football club, that was really hard to take,” Cox said.

“We had the 20-year [2005 premiership] reunion, you’re honouring that, we needed a response … It was a chance as a footy department to realign and to go back to what we initially set out to do … who we wanted to be. And, to the players’ credit and to everyone’s credit at the football club, they did that, but it was too late.”

The Swans gathered for their team photo at Moore Park on Tuesday, with former Carlton full-forward Charlie Curnow commanding most camera lenses.

Swans recruit Charlie Curnow.Credit: Sam Mooy

Last year Cox dealt with injuries to Logan McDonald, Tom Papley, Errol Gulden and captain Callum Mills. Now he hopes for a full chessboard to structure his plan around a prized piece in Curnow, who can provide the Swans with a physical forward threat. Cox has been impressed not by Curnow’s goal-kicking ability but by the example he is setting throughout the club and for his teammates at training.

“I think the biggest thing I’ve noticed is his work ethic on the training track,” Cox said.

“There’s also the relationship he has with the defenders here; you’re getting Lewis Melican and Tom McCartin and [Dane] Rampe and Will Edwards that actually get the chance to train on this sort of player.

“They’re going as hard as they can against each other, so I think the value is for him to play, and to play well, but it’s also about [what] he brings to other people. He’s had a great summer. We’ve still got a lot of work to do to hopefully make him really play to his strengths and get our side going.”

While Curnow arrived in Sydney, the Swans traded Will Hayward and Ollie Florent to Carlton, setting up an opening round filled with reunion storylines. Telling a player their time is up at a club is something Cox will never get used to, especially with players such as Florent and Hayward, but he understands that’s his job.

“You’re in a leadership position where you have to make decisions. They don’t become any easier,” Cox said.

“One thing that I pride myself [on] is being close with my players, but I still have to have the boundary of when I need to make a decision on whether it’s picking a player, whether it’s trading, whether it’s delisting a player – none of them are easy, but I accept it’s part of the job.”

The off-season also resulted in Cox finding himself in the spotlight. At the SCG, for the fifth Test of the Ashes, he was filmed enjoying a beer out of a wine glass with his tie askew.

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“I certainly enjoyed just sitting out there, just watching the cricket, and then sort of my phone started buzzing and I didn’t even realise I was on camera. But yeah, it was a good little afternoon,” he said.

The next day, to avoid the inevitable insults from the team, Cox printed out photos of himself, complete with a wonky tie and a wine glass, and placed them in the team room. As one of the game’s great ruckmen, he has always known the best form of defence is attack.

Now leading a stronger Swans in 2026, Cox is ready for whatever his second season brings.

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