![\"Claremont](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/174147668007ffc7d724bf2da78e142a954fbbb8.jpg\")
Camera IconClaremont product Angus Sheldrick has thrived under new coach Dean Cox. Credit: Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\nWest Coast great Dean Cox says he is wary of his former side after they took ladder-leaders Adelaide to the brink a fortnight ago as he prepares to finish his first season as Sydney coach in Perth.<\/p>\n
Cox will become the eighth former Eagle to coach against his old side when they clash at Optus Stadium on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
It will round out a tough first season for Cox at the helm, with the Swans not playing in September after making last year\u2019s grand final against Brisbane.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Eagles are $4.90 outsiders to add a second win in their first year under Andrew McQualter.<\/p>\n
290-game Eagles premiership player Cox said he would focus on the WA club\u2019s nine-point loss to Adelaide from a fortnight ago rather than the 94-point drubbing by the Western Bulldogs when he prepares his team for the clash.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll always love the footy club. I think one thing you always do is when you\u2019re a part of that organisation,\u201d he told ABC.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always watch from afar with interest. I don\u2019t dive deeply in it unless it\u2019s in the last month or something when we\u2019re coming up against them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re always trying to see some stuff that \u2018Mini\u2019 wants to improve in that playing group and the way he wants to play, and it is going to take time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have injuries, certainly to a lot of the key players, we found at the start of the year, and they\u2019ve had through this part of the season is you find out a lot about young kids and where the playing group can go forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll look certainly a lot at the Adelaide game and the way they handled that. That was a phenomenal performance. So, we\u2019ll be spending most of our time on that one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Claremont product Angus Sheldrick is a player who has thrived under Cox, playing a career-best 19 games this season.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old turned down reported overtures from West Coast to return home to sign a three-year extension at the Swans which will tie him to the club until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
Camera IconClaremont product Angus Sheldrick has thrived under new coach Dean Cox. Credit: Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had a really impressive season and the good part about it was rewarding him with a contract,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd for him to want to stay and be a part of this group going forward is a testament, he\u2019s worked extremely hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s had injuries in his first couple of seasons and they haven\u2019t been one- or two-week injuries. They\u2019ve been seven-week, 11-weeks, so to be able to build a season where he\u2019s been able to play week-in, week-out has been great for him and his development. We see a bright future at our footy club and are just rapt to have him stay.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Coast great Dean Cox says he is wary of his former side after they took ladder-leaders Adelaide…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,588,85,7200,7067],"class_list":{"0":"post-81704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sydney-swans","16":"tag-west-coast-eagles"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}