John Worfold explains how Dean Cox’s footy strengths at West Coast Eagles will help him as Sydney Swans coach

Dean Cox’s ability to read the game and transform expectations for ruckmen during his playing career is one of the reasons why he rose through the ranks to become an AFL senior coach according to West Coast premiership coach John Worsfold.

Cox was named as Sydney’s new coach on Tuesday, taking over from premiership coach John Longmire who stood down after 333 games.

Worsfold led the Eagles to the 2006 premiership as Cox became a dominant running ruckman. He said the Eagles changed their game style to take advantage of Cox’s running strength but that required him to learn a plan that was foreign to what had traditionally been expected of ruckmen.

“He became a weapon for us because we designed a game plan around him getting out into space and out running his opponent,” Worsfold told The West Australian.

“He was a ruckman that we said we said once we won the ball in the back half, he would play like a wingman. We left wing space open for him. If Embley and Braun were deep in the backline helping to win the footy, Coxy was the one breaking into the wing space and he did it brilliantly.

“It’s a matter of reading the play and timing it. You don’t want to get there early and bring attention to yourself. Between 2004 and 2005, Coxy’s jump in the number of marks he took in a year went from about 70 to more than double. We wanted to use his running ability and he just latched onto it.”

Cox now has his own opportunity to develop a game plan in the hope of lifting Sydney from a grand finalist to winning another premiership. The Swans lost their last four grand finals under Longmire including two in the last three years.

Cox had long been tipped to succeed Longmire and knocked back the chance to interview for West Coast’s job so he and his family could remain in the Harbour City.

He said Longmire’s generosity had allowed him to gain more insight into the job before taking over.

“One thing the footy club has always done is try and develop the people that are within it,” Cox said.

“John has know for a period of time that I always wanted to be a senior coach, hence the move over from WA. It was a big one for our family at the time but it was one you had to do. We’ve had constant dialogue with the footy club and with John all the way through it.

“The opportunity that I was presented certainly towards the end of last year to be able to do the off-season, sit with John and go through the recruiting phase, draft, staff hiring process of getting a program ready and then the ability to be able to do it again this off-season is a testament to John to allow that to happen, to promote and help his people.

“We’ve stayed in constant dialogue all he way through. The possibility arose and I’m really excited about it.”

Cox has signed a four-year deal with the Swans and joins a list of huge names to have coached the club across the last 30 years. He follows in the footsteps of Ron Barassi, Rodney Eade, Paul Roos and Longmire.

The Swans won the minor premiership with a 17-6 record and Cox will now attempt to maintain the club’s ability of consistently playing finals and contending for premierships.

Worsfold believes Cox’s ability to connect with his players will be a feature of his coaching.

“He had a good rapport and a good way to build relationships. That was obvious. He did that really well over here,” Worsfold said.

“Hopefully the footy knowledge that has come through has been derived from all of his experiences as a young player, then as a player at West Coast and under Horse. He’s built an array of coaching knowledge.

“There’s a lot of good people in the system that do that really well but that was one of his natural strengths even before he decided to coach. He’s authentic, has high values, is a good person and made other people feel important. He wasn’t transitional with his contact with people. He always made them feel like he was enjoying time with them.

“It’s an important trait to have. senior coaches are a package of different things and everyone has a different blend of what they’re strong at and what they’re not as strong as at. But I would expect every coach would have to have that to some degree.”

Cox’s first coach at East Perth Tony Micale went on to be his assistant coach at West Coast. He is expecting Cox to quickly show all of his skills as an AFL coach.

“He will be an outstanding coach. He is a strong character, he doesn’t suffer fools,” Micale said.

“He has just shown that he has got great leadership qualities, firstly by his actions. He has done the apprenticeship. He was at West Coast when Sam Mitchell was there and would have learnt a lot from him.

“And working with Judd, Cousins and Kerr when he was playing, he has that in his own bank. He has a great imagination, but it is his strength of character as well.

“They are a super, super football club, but he will add another dimension to the mental side of the game. Dare anyone knock John Longmire, but they won’t be beaten by big margins in grand finals. I think he will really tighten that aspect of it.

“When you look at the flair he played with, revolutionised the mobility of the ruckman’s role, I think he will add that to his coaching prowess as well.”