No quick fix for struggling Swans, Hardwick praises leaders (2025)

SYDNEY coach Dean Cox says there's no quick fix for his Swans after they slumped to a 2-5 win-loss record following Sunday's 38-point hiding from Gold Coast.

After leading by 29 points late in the second quarter at People First Stadium, the Swans conceded a staggering 12 consecutive goals to be completely overrun in the Carrara heat.

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Their season is in grave danger of spiralling ahead of facing Greater Western Sydney next Sunday.

Cox said Sydney had to "work through it", starting with a review and then training.

"It's not a one-week fix for us," he said.

"It's about trying to make sure for the next block that we're going to improve, and the results will come off the back of it.

"When they do, who knows, but we're not going to shy away from it. We're going to work our way through it."

Led by James Rowbottom, Chad Warner and Isaac Heeney, Sydney dominated Gold Coast's midfield in the opening half, but then simply could not get their hands on the ball after the main break.

The Suns owned territory on the back of clearance dominance and the Swans could not repel an avalanche of inside 50s.

Cox said it was a microcosm of Sydney's season to date, one that he described as inconsistent.

"If you can't win it, you halve it or do whatever you can to scrap and make it as hard as possible for the opposition," he said.

"And we didn't do that enough, so when they got ascendancy, they got ascendancy.

"We need to fight for longer. That's now our job. Make sure we get the players back to doing that."

After pushing Tom McCartin back into defence for the whole game, Cox continued to search for answers in his forward line, playing Peter Ladhams and even pushing Nick Blakey inside 50 for the final term where he kicked three goals.

One man they won't have any time soon though is Logan McDonald.

The young forward saw a specialist early in the week following confirmation of a stress reaction in his ankle, but Cox said the club would seek a second and third opinion in the coming week to determine his immediate future.

"He won't be back in the near future though," he said.

Gold Coast coach Damien Hardwick paid credit to skipper Noah Anderson and his leadership group for the mid-match reversal.

Anderson fought hard through a James Jordon tag to finish with 21 touches, while Touk Miller (24) continued a fantastic season and Ben King (five goals) capitalised forward of the ball.

"The leadership group has a really good understanding of what is required at certain times," Hardwick said.

"It is not often you get five goals behind the Sydney Football Club and manage to win by five goals.

"That is a massive achievement. They are a club that we are aiming to become. I think today was a bit of a step forward towards that."

The victory sets up a mouth-watering QClash against premier Brisbane next Sunday night.

With both teams in the top four, Hardwick said the clash would be a great measuring stick of his team's development.

"We got a great taste of it today against a great side … we knew they would come out firing," he said.

"Next week we get a really important challenge against a side we haven't done particularly well against, so we are looking forward to it."