“It could derail Sydney”: Why Gossage and Schwarz disagree about Cox’s West Coast silence

Should Dean Cox come out and let the football world know what his plans are for 2025 and beyond?

That is the opinion of Tim Gossage who believes the Swans assistant should publicly declare whether or not he is planning to pursue the West Coast job following the departure of Adam Simpson.

Eagles great Cox is being widely touted as the natural replacement for premiership coach Simpson, but he is currently deep into the 2024 season with the Swans who are the hot flag favourites.

Gossage believes it would be wise of Cox to let us all know what he is planning so as to avoid constant speculation.

“I think Dean Cox has a role to play in the next 24 to 48 hours, a significant part of the footy landscape going forward,” Gossage said on SEN WA Breakfast.

“I think Dean Cox must come out and make a comment about his coaching future now.

“There is no written contract between Sydney and Dean Cox, or John Longmire and Dean Cox. There is none.

“There is an expectation that they want Dean Cox to stay. If John Longmire doesn’t coach on past 2025 or coaches on for three more years they still want Dean Cox to be the next coach.

“So the onus goes back onto Dean Cox to decide whether he stays as 2IC (second in charge) and knock back any other opportunities, ie, West Coast.

“For me, if Dean Cox is hellbent on standing firm in his position as a senior assistant at Sydney… he should come out right now and end all the speculation for him, for Sydney, for Sydney fans, for the Eagles, for the Eagles fans.

“I think that Dean holds the whip hand. The more he’s silent it lends itself to speculation.”

Those thoughts were floated to SEN WA Breakfast guest David Schwarz who was completely on the opposite wavelength to Gossage.

The former Melbourne star has implored Cox to continue with his work at the Swans even if he does covet the West Coast job.

“I think it would be disrespectful for Dean Cox to come out straight away and give his intentions,” Schwarz said.

“There’s no doubt his management behind the scenes is speaking to the right people and whilst they’ve got a finals campaign on the line I reckon Dean Cox has too much class to say, ‘Yep, I’m putting my hand up until this job is done with Sydney’.

“But behind the scenes I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s signalled his intentions that if a job was available he will be putting his hand up.”

Furthermore, Schwarz believes John Longmire’s lieutenant would be in his right to plan for his future behind the scenes.

“I reckon that if he was staying at Sydney that would have already been announced,” he continued.

“He’s got to play his cards close to his chest and he’s got to do it behind the scenes because he is the sort of person who has honour, he’s not going to crap all over Sydney whilst they’ve got their best chance of playing in a Grand Final and possibly winning one until the time is right.

“He’d be speaking with ‘Horse’ (Longmire) and the Sydney hierarchy in exactly that. They just don’t need anything to ruffle feathers. The last thing you want is a bloke walking into the change rooms knowing that he’s going somewhere else. It affects the trustworthiness within the group and I reckon only bad things can happen.

“If they play behind the scenes and say they’re going to make the decision after Sydney’s campaign is over, so be patient and we will make that decision at the time. But we’re not being disrespectful to a club that he’s been involved with for over a decade.”

Provided of course that Cox does have plans to join the Eagles, the argument was raised about coming clean and telling the Swans now which may lead to a premature exit.

But Schwarz is firmly of the belief that it could “derail” Sydney’s premiership push if players know he is on the way out.

“If you get rid of him you lose a huge chess piece in being able to hopefully win a Grand Final,” Schwarz said further.

“Sydney aren’t going to blow up a finals campaign for Dean Cox for the sake of telling a few reporters four weeks earlier than what they need to.

“I reckon it could derail Sydney because there will be players aligned to Dean Cox that have his trust that he’s working with on a daily basis.

“I just wouldn’t upset the applecart and I don’t think Sydney would. They’re too professional, they’re too smart and they’ll deal with it.”

Does Schwarz believe Cox will coach the Eagles in 2025?

“Yes, I do,” was his vehement response.

In the meantime, interim coach Jarrad Schofield will look after the embattled Eagles who face St Kilda this weekend as Cox focuses on the high-flying Swans who are up against the barnstorming Brisbane Lions on Sunday.