Watch every match of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n The Sydney coach stressed \u201cwe need to get all the facts\u201d on that police probe before jumping to any conclusions as he shifts his attention to his first finals campaign as senior coach. <\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I\u2019ll always do is support my players. I\u2019m staying in dialogue with those five players whilst they\u2019re away from the football club. I speak about their welfare, how they\u2019re going and if we can support in any way,\u201d Cox said on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Tuesday night. <\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to them at all about the police investigation. Also I think we need to understand there\u2019s an investigation in process. We need to get all the facts on that, before we make any assumptions. <\/p>\n \u201c(My chats are) purely about support, and I\u2019ll continue to do that.\u201d <\/p>\n ‘Thou shalt not undermine your coach’ | 01:19<\/p>\n Cox revealed there\u2019s no time frame on when those five players will return to the club.<\/p>\n \u201cThings are changing by the hour and the day. People upstairs (are involved in those talks), I\u2019m privy to some of those conversations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it\u2019s been about how we best manage our football team at the minute and make sure we can focus as heavily as we possibly can on this weekend\u2019s game. <\/p>\n \u201cWhilst also supporting those players whilst they aren\u2019t at the club. There\u2019s no time frame on when they will return, we\u2019ll just keep talking about it each day and assess the situation from there.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked if he wasn\u2019t ruling out the possibility of the \u2018Pullman Five\u2019 returning to the club this season, Cox said: \u201cThere\u2019s so much at play. My job now is to focus and prepare the team as well as I possibly can and get us ready and united.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom Andrew (Pridham, chairman) to \u2018Pav\u2019 (Matthew Pavlich, chief executive), to all staff, to the playing group, to put in a really strong performance and be ready on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n Holmes set to return for Cats | 02:33<\/p>\n It comes as Sydney prepare to park a stormy few weeks when the second-placed club hosts Brisbane in a qualifying final at the SCG on Saturday.<\/p>\n Cox says he\u2019s been able to lock back into footy ahead of the second-year coach\u2019s first finals series at the helm of the Swans, having only had brief preparations for their Round 24 win over North Melbourne in the week of the Pullman controversy. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited about the opportunity to be able to coach this club in my first finals campaign,\u201d Cox said. <\/p>\n \u201cI said to the players there\u2019s no playbook on how we handle the situation. We\u2019re going to stick together, we\u2019re going to work out way through every circumstance and scenario.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to try and put our best foot forward and perform in a way that we\u2019re gong to make each other proud and our football club proud. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re under no illusion that this weekend is a really tough ask but one we\u2019re really excited for.\u201d<\/p>\n But Cox hadn\u2019t felt the need to address Pridham\u2019s comments that the club\u2019s call to suspend the five players for the remainder of 2026 \u201ceffectively torpedo our season,\u201d having commended the way the Swans chairman has handled the matter. <\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate how hostile that press conference was and I had one a couple of days later … but certainly in my conversations with Andrew, there has not been one suggestion that he\u2019s lost any belief in this playing group and what it can still do,\u201d Cox added. <\/p>\n \u201cThrough this, his support and guidance, not only to me, but our whole players, staff and the entire club, has been at the highest level. And it has been like that for decades.<\/p>\n \u201cI really admire the way he has led through this situation, taken ownership, set the standards and supported all the people around him. <\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s what makes him such a great chairman and great person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney coach Dean Cox says he\u2019s stayed in constant dialogue with the club\u2019s five suspended players to show…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-876258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876258","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=876258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1788270378_537_poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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