Dean Cox’s relationship with Chad Warner the ‘secret weapon’ which could decide 2025 AFL Trade frenzy

They are four of the AFL’s best young talents. And as JON RALPH explains, the futures of Harley Reid, Chad Warner, Luke Jackson and Kysaiah Pickett could all revolve around one man.

Five Grand Finals as senior coach affords you a deep level of respect, which is what John Longmire deserves after a career coaching Sydney through 14 seasons and 333 AFL games.

The strong Sydney view is that he was totally cooked at the end of last year and not pushed in any way to hand over to heir apparent Dean Cox.

So it is no slight or put-down on Longmire’s tenure to suggest that there is a freshness about what has occurred at Sydney in an off-season of change.

Longmire chose the moment perfectly and got out of the way for Cox at the right time.

So it shouldn’t reflect poorly on Longmire that three months into Dean Cox’s tenure as Sydney’s coach he is already shaping as the secret weapon in this club’s bid to keep uncontracted star Chad Warner.

Fremantle and West Coast had been told last year he would return home at the end of his 2025 contract, even if he never attempted to break his deal last October.

With strong family ties to Perth, a new property purchase in Western Australia and both WA teams backing up the truck, it is still a very likely scenario.

Yet Cox’s incredibly tight relationship with Warner is evening up the playing field.

As this masthead reported last year, the Swans have offered two-year deals and longer-term arrangements for the brilliant Warner to consider as he delays a decision on his future.

But Warner is already reporting to those close to him there is a sense of freshness around a reinvigorated Sydney under his former line coach Cox.

Cox has been described as a Sam Mitchell-style coach – a player’s coach – who forms intensely strong relationships with his players and stars.

Having a fresh voice after a second grand final annihilation in three seasons might be a refreshing change, no matter the perfectly timed replacement for Longmire.

Can the Swans fend off interest in Chad Warner from the WA clubs?

Chad Warner has been strongly linked with a return to his native Western Australia.

It would be a cop-out for the players to believe a change of coach alone will win them the flag after their dismal grand final performance.

All summer the jungle drums have been beating that Longmire was nudged rather than stepping aside, but Cox made clear on Fox Footy on Monday he knew nothing of the move until it was presented to him.

He said the club’s entire planning was around Longmire having a freshen-up until January until chief executive Tom Harley summoned him to a meeting where Longmire and Harley told him the job was his if he wanted it.

So whether the close ties with Cox present a nice smokescreen or are a genuine game-changer in his decision, the Swans will believe they at least remain in the hunt until late in the season.

Sydney has already set the market impossibly high for Warner if he does go, with long memories of giving up future Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson for a steal.

Adelaide-raised Dawson left for what ended up as pick 18, peeling off 67 incredible games so far as a 27-year-old dual best-and-fairest winner, 2023 All-Australian, dual Showdown medallist and club captain at the Crows since 2023.

So Sydney would want three first-round picks as a starting point for Warner.

Fremantle is in the race for Kysaiah Pickett, but has made clear if Warner wanted to come to the Dockers they would move heaven and earth as a priority ahead of the Demons’ want-away star.

But they know West Coast has its nose in front after a series of meetings and golf dates with Eagles chief executive Don Pyke at a club that has kept its own first-rounder (likely a top-four pick) and also has the Hawks’ 2025 first and second-round draft selections.

With Warner still only 23 years of age, industry figures suggest he could secure a contract of eight years at around $1.8 million per season.

If that money seems preposterous, remember that in 2024, 10 AFL players earned over $1.2m and that the AFL collective bargaining agreement would likely rise twice across the life of that contract.

Dean Cox has a strong relationship with Sydney star Chad Warner.

His brother Corey signed a new two-year deal on Monday, but has little bearing on his future.

If anything, the Swans wanted to separate Corey’s contract status from Chad’s decision after a bumper pre-season, keen to avoid the perception they were holding the future of his AFL career over his brother’s head.

Meanwhile, Fremantle will go to work doing everything they can to secure Pickett, having taken classy goalkicking midfielder Murphy Reid at pick 17 last year instead of trading that selection into 2025 for a greater draft hand.

Fremantle is building a compelling case for Pickett to move west. His cousin Isaiah Dudley recently signed as a Dockers rookie, and good mates at the club include Shai Bolton, Michael Walters and Quinton Narkle.

Narkle’s partner, Taylah Cubillo, is the sister of Pickett’s partner Ardu Cubillo, as Melbourne is well aware.

As much as the Luke Jackson-for-Pickett swap is a titillating storyline, the Dockers’ official that trades the generational talent (Jackson) would be frogmarched out of the building, never to return.

It’s unlikely it will happen given the 23-year-old Jackson is footy’s unicorn – no one else can play ruck, midfield and forward, even if the Dockers haven’t quite maximised that skillset yet.

Never criticise a president willing to talk about the trade value of a player, and yet Demons’ boss Brad Green’s strong stance will have emboldened the Dockers.

Kysaiah Pickett has been linked with a move to Western Australia.

Luke Jackson flies for a mark in Fremantle’s pre-season clash against Melbourne.

His quote to this masthead that the Demons wanted three first-rounders if Pickett left would have pricked the ears of Dockers’ list boss David Walls.

In an instant, Pickett went from untouchable to very gettable.

The first rule of negotiation is not to float the first number.

And if 23-year-old Pickett plays mid-forward as he has all summer – terrorising his teammates with scintillating match-simulation form – he will be worth at least two first-round picks if not quite the three Green requested.

The utopia for West Coast would be securing Warner and also keeping Harley Reid, still in absolutely no hurry to sign a deal past his third season. The Eagles are livid with any suggestion Reid is anything other than blissfully in love with the state, but those close to the 19-year-old are aware that a return home still weighs heavily on him.

Harley Reid continues to be linked with a big-money move back to Victoria.

He spent every spare moment or a free weekend back in Melbourne last year with partner and Carlton AFLW player Yasmin Duursma. But she has spent much of the summer with Reid in Perth in a move that has helped him settle, even if his training form was interrupted by niggles.

They have been together 14 months, as he publicly celebrated their one-year anniversary in January on social media: “1 lap with this amazing human”.

He could decide to sign a one-year deal for 2028 (for up to $2m, given he is woefully underpaid on his mandatory AFL contract).

But if he did decide to sign a long-term deal, Duursma might decide to move to Perth with him.

Some veteran industry figures have wondered whether West Coast might consider making an AFLW trade for Duursma to unite the pair. The Eagles are aware of the suggestion, but certainly haven’t considered it as a possibility so far.

A trade request this year for Reid seems unlikely, but not totally impossible.

The only way the Eagles could “sell” losing Reid this year would be with Warner having been secured as a replacement, plus a bumper haul of draftees with the early picks retained.

Warner would be watching Reid from afar as his every waking movement is scrutinised, criticised and analysed.

No one knows that particular Eagles phenomenon more than West Coast’s six-time All-Australian and new Sydney coach Cox.

In his quiet moments with Warner, surely he has planted the seed that returning home and filling his bank account would come with a total loss of anonymity amid the intense Perth glare.

So West Coast and Fremantle will spend the season intent on retaining their own stars, aware Pickett and Warner are in touching distance despite Cox’s hard-sell to Warner.