{"id":895016,"date":"2026-09-17T06:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T06:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895016\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T06:50:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T06:50:18","slug":"afl-news-2026-sydney-swans-coach-dean-cox-press-conference-preliminary-final-vs-fremantle-scg-fans-crowd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/895016\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL news 2026: Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox press conference, preliminary final vs Fremantle, SCG fans, crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney Swans<\/a> coach Dean Cox gave a nod to the under-siege club\u2019s supporters as hundreds showed up for an open training session at the SCG on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In the latest indication that Sydney supporters have stuck fat with the club despite the Pullman scandal<\/a>, an estimated 600 fans poured into the SCG to mingle with the team and watch them train before Friday\u2019s preliminary final against Fremantle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sydney superstar Charlie Curnow takes a photo with Swans fans.\u00a0Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

It follows a stunning show of support that saw tickets for the grand final qualifier at the SCG \u2013 which has a capacity of 45,000 for AFL games \u2013 sell out within a couple of hours after going on sale on Monday.<\/p>\n

As he was asked at his press conference on Thursday if he felt the club had won back the support of the city, Cox cast his eyes across to the fans in the stands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still trying to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the support that this football club\u2019s had for a long period of time has been phenomenal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s been sold out [for the] most part of the year, and it\u2019s great to see everyone get [out here today].<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we can put in a performance that they\u2019re really proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sydney\u2019s AFL\/AFLW double header against North Melbourne<\/a> at the SCG \u2013 the first game day since the hotel scandal blew up \u2013 drew a crowd of 30,058.<\/p>\n

For the qualifying final against two-time reigning premiers Brisbane<\/a> at the SCG, which Sydney won by 53 points, a crowd of 37,261 rocked up.<\/p>\n

The Swans find themselves just one win away from a grand final berth a month after chairman Andrew Pridham said the club\u2019s decision to stand down five players for the season, including superstars Isaac Heeney<\/a>, Chad Warner and Nick Blakey, had \u201ctorpedoed\u201d its premiership campaign.<\/p>\n

In a boost for Sydney ahead of the preliminary final, Cox confirmed midfielder Justin McInerney would play his first senior game since round 14, having recovered from a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Cox also said key forward Joel Amartey had not been selected despite overcoming a partial Achilles tendon tear.<\/p>\n

Key forward Hayden McLean has retained his place in the side after booting three goals in the qualifying final win over Brisbane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox gave a nod to the under-siege club\u2019s supporters as hundreds showed up for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-895016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895016","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=895016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}