AFL star Brennan Cox will be parachuted into Sunday’s WAFL grand final in the hopes he can prove his fitness should Fremantle make it through to next weekend’s decider.

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Cox did not travel with the team to Sydney to take on the Swans on Friday night.

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Instead the defender, who has played just twice for Fremantle’s alignment team Peel since 2019, will be part of the Thunder team to take on Claremont in Sunday’s grand final.

Peel coach Adam Read defended Cox’s last-minute inclusion, with the Docker not playing since injuring his calf last month.

“One of my mentors told me: Talent, you can lose with it but you can’t win without it,” he said.

“When someone of Brennan’s capabilities is available for us, we’re more than happy to take it.

The 2026 WAFL grand final captains and coach. Photo: WA FootballSource: Supplied

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“From his personal point of view, it’s his opportunity to get himself ready for a potential AFL grand final if things go right and that’s what the alignment (between Fremantle and Peel) is there to do to set both clubs up for success.”

Read conceded Cox “hasn’t suited up for us for a while”, but was confident links to the club’s training program would get him through Sunday’s decider.

“Our system is really adaptable. There’s times we’ve played three talls back, even four. The beauty is most of our players, whether they are local Peel players or AFL listed players, is we’ve built a lot of versatility… there’s no hesitations about bringing someone like Brennan in.

“He’s a premiership player at the Peel Thunder footy club. The footy club means something to him.

“While he hasn’t suited up for us for a while, he’s got great connection to the club and people involved and the community.”

Read said he was “not aware” of any restricted minutes for Cox, who has managed just three AFL games since mid-July.

Brennan Cox fails to finish the clash with Carlton.Source: Getty Images

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“One of the beauties of the alignment and how strong it’s been over the recent past, Brennan’s got great connection to the footy club, the boys are really well connected – both groups. Even though he hasn’t suited up, he does know a lot of the guys,” Read said.

“Obviously the backline that he’ll be going into has a lot of listed guys that he trains with week in and week out anyway.

“He’ll be sharing that backline with guys like Ben Hancock (a former Fremantle COVID top up player and ex-Thunder captain) who he has played a lot of football with over his journey anyway.”

But the Thunder coach admits it would be a tough conversation with the player who misses out for Cox.

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“I think I’ve done every coaching course you can imagine – I don’t think one of them teaches you how to have those hard conversations and talks about that,” he shared.

“Look, it’s not easy.

“Had to do it two years ago, drop two guys for the 2024 grand final. It’s not an easy conversation to have with someone, but that’s the harsh realities of high-level competitive sport.

“You’d love everyone to get out there and play but unfortunately that won’t be the case.”

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir praised Cox’s mature approach to his own finals heartbreak; not travelling to Sydney for Friday night’s preliminary final.

“I always do those meetings one-on-one, so it’s less confronting for the player,” Longmuir said.

Brennan Cox trains, trying to prove his fitness.Source: Getty Images

“He took it really maturely. He understood.

“He’s a player that takes a little bit of time to get his fitness back. He’s a bit of a cramper, so he understood that going into a prelim would be a big challenge for him.

“He was disappointed, but he’s such a mature person and a guy of great character, so he understood what’s ahead of him, and he won’t give up any hope of us winning and him playing next week.

“We feel like he’s in a good spot. He couldn’t have done much more.

“It’s just going into a prelim, in his position, it’s a really tough ask, so he’ll stay behind and play Sunday and, like I said to him yesterday, next week will be next week.”