Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox criticised for behaviour on sidelines

Sydney were handed another brutal home-ground defeat and their struggling coach has now been pulled up over his behaviour on the sidelines.

A picture paints a thousand words.

Dean Cox’s first year in the hot seat is beginning to resemble a nightmare. On Sunday, Sydney were handed another home-ground defeat and the struggling coach couldn’t hide his despair.

Cox is under scrutiny for the visible strain etched across his face while sitting on the sidelines this weekend as the Swans lost by eight points to Port Adelaide. Images captured of his gestures — hands on head and arms flailing — have projected the wrong image according to club stalwarts and footy commentators.

FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer.

Former Swans premiership coach Paul Roos said the performance against Port Adelaide was “un-Sydney”. The team once feared for its clinical efficiency has now been reduced to what Roos called “Globetrotter football.”

Footy journalist Caroline Wilson also took aim at Cox’s body language, saying his behaviour in the box when things aren’t going his way goes back to the beginning of the season when it all went wrong at the SCG in round one.

“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.

Vision showed Cox and football boss Leon Cameron waving their arms with theatrical exasperation. Cox later sat with his head in his hands as Port Adelaide opened the second half with a goal.

“I think if you’re seeing that as a player … I don’t think you want to see that,” Wilson said.

A picture paints a thousand words.

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,” he said.

Luke Hodge said if a coach is losing the plot in view of the players, it can often make the situation worse.

“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.”

Dale Thomas said the optics were “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,” he said.

The Swans are under serious pressure to perform.

“Just look at the lack of cohesion once this ball is won back from Port Adelaide … 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 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.”

The Swans take on the third-placed Gold Coast Suns this weekend in Queensland.

Originally published as Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox criticised for behaviour on sidelines