Saturday night's match marked the first time Cox, a 290-game premiership champion of West Coast, had come up against his former side as a senior coach.Â
He cut an angry figure with his team trailing 20-7 at quarter time, and the Swans still trailed by seven points at halftime in what was shaping as a huge boilover in front of 36,029 fans.
But a 13-goals-to-one second half from Sydney turned the contest on its head, with the 10th-placed Swans running out 18.10 (118) to 7.9 (51) winners to finish 2025 with a 12-11 record.
The Swans' ball movement 🔥#AFLEaglesSwans pic.twitter.com/u9N2pKnjMl— AFL (@AFL) August 23, 2025
West Coast (1-22) end the season with just one win to their name for the first time in the club's history.Â
Errol Gulden (36 disposals, two goals, 648m gained), Isaac Heeney (26 disposals, 10 clearances, one goal) and Tom Papley (27 disposals, three goals) led the way for Sydney, while Jack Buller kicked a career-high three goals.Â
For the Eagles, Tim Kelly continued his strong late-season form with 24 disposals and seven clearances, while emerging star Jobe Shanahan kicked three goals.Â
"One thing I don't want to do is always continually do that to players," Cox said of his quarter-time spray.Â
"At times, they are just decisions you make with the expectation that we put on ourselves.Â
"When I played, I was a part of on the end of some of them as well. And it wasn't personal, it was collective towards the group and areas we need to improve on."
West Coast entered the season nursing the weakest list in the league, and they finished their campaign missing their five most important players - Harley Reid, Jeremy McGovern, Jake Waterman, Oscar Allen and Elliot Yeo - plus key defender Harry Edwards.
Eagles defender Reuben Ginbey was subbed out in the second quarter after injuring his right knee in what at first sight looked like a horrific injury.
The 20-year-old was left writhing in pain on the turf after his right leg cannoned into the head of teammate Matt Flynn as he somersaulted into an airborne contest.
Remarkably, Ginbey was able to return later in the term, but was clearly in pain and was soon subbed out.Â
"My heart was in my mouth," Eagles coach Andrew McQualter said of watching Ginbey get injured.
"Hell of a contest by Reuben. We're really hopeful that it's OK. It's just a bad knock to the knee is what we're thinking."
West Coast started the game with a bang, kicking the opening three goals via Bailey Williams, Jamie Cripps and Shanahan on the back of intense pressure and high-class marking.
Flynn flies, Cripps converts.— AFL (@AFL) August 23, 2025The Eagles are off to a hot start!#AFLEaglesSwans pic.twitter.com/ZLcHN0v85g
Cox delivered an almighty spray to his group at quarter-time, and the Swans responded with the first two goals of the second term.
The Eagles refused to wilt, and by the 21-minute mark of the second term, they had won seven holding-the-ball free kicks for the match compared to Sydney's none.Â
Shanahan and Flynn kicked goals to give West Coast a seven-point edge at halftime, but the third term was all one-way traffic as Sydney's ball movement from defence cut West Coast to shreds in a six-goals-to-nil blitz.
The Swans delivered more pain in the final quarter to blow out the final margin beyond 10 goals.
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