Dean Cox speaks ahead of the start of the Sydney Swans finals campaign against the Brisbane Lions; Carlton recruit Ben Ainsworth reveals how Richmond great Alex Rance is helping him ahead of elimination final against Geelong; Max Holmes firming to return for first game since round 19
Updated ,first published
In today’s AFL Briefing, your wrap of footy news:
- Swans coach Dean Cox didn’t rule out Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, James Jordon or Riley Bice from returning to the club this season.
- Carlton’s Ben Ainsworth has been working on his mindset this season with Richmond premiership great Alex Rance.
- Max Holmes is firming to return for the Cats’ knockout final against Carlton.
Sydney coach Dean Cox has not ruled out the five suspended players making a return to the club before the end of the season.
As the second-placed Swans prepare to embark on a finals campaign with massively reduced external expectations on them after the five – Isaac Heeney, Nick Blakey, Chad Warner, James Jordon and Riley Bice – were banned for breaching the club’s behavioural standards, Cox revealed there is uncertainty about how long they’ll be absent from the club.
“I think things are changing by the hour and the day,” Cox said on AFL 360 ahead of Saturday’s qualifying final against the Brisbane Lions at the SCG.
“[With] people upstairs [at the club], and I’m privy to some of those conversations [and the focus] has been about how we best manage our football team at the minute and make sure that we can focus as heavily as we possibly can on this weekend’s game, whilst also supporting those players whilst they aren’t at the club.
“There’s no timeframe on when they will return. We’ll keep talking about it each day, and assess the situation from there.”
The five players have begun appointing different lawyers to represent them as police investigate the allegation of sexual assault at the Pullman East Melbourne that was made last month. The five have denied any criminal wrongdoing, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
There are at least three separate counsels for the five players, whose interviews with Victoria Police loom after the alleged assault at the hotel where the Swans were staying for their round 23 clash with Essendon.
The players’ legal moves come as further details emerge about the early morning events at the hotel and how one of the women came to be in the foyer with Swans staff including Cox. No Swans officials are accused of inappropriate behaviour.
Cox confirmed he was maintaining contact with the players.
“One thing I’ll always do is support my players – I’m staying in dialogue with those five players whilst they’re away from the football club.
“I speak about their welfare, how they’re going, if we can support [them] in any way.
“We need to understand that that’s one thing I’ll always do.
“I haven’t spoken to them at all about the police investigation, and also I think we need to understand that there’s still an investigation in process.
“We need to get all the facts on that before we make any assumptions.
“It’s purely about support, and I’ll continue to do that.”
Separate to the police investigation, the players received club-imposed bans for the rest of the season for drinking, staying out late and inviting women back to the team hotel.
When the Pullman Hotel incident became public last month, Swans chairman Andrew Pridham conceded that the sanctions imposed by Sydney could “torpedo” their premiership hopes.
“They shouldn’t have been in that situation of being out that late, and the only way we can deal with it is to put our foot down incredibly hard, which we’ve done,” Pridham said at the time.
“I think a very important point to make is that we, as a football club, that is our business, and to effectively torpedo our season by making a decision such as this just tells you how seriously we are taking it.”
Cox said he hadn’t spoken to Pridham about those comments.
“Certainly in my conversations with Andrew there has been not one suggestion that he’s lost any belief in this playing group, and what it can still do,” he said.
“I think through this his support and guidance, not only for me but for all players and all staff and the entire club, has been the highest level. And it has been like that for decades.
“I really admire the way he has led through this situation, taking ownership, set the standards, and supported all the people around him.”
– Scott Spits
A Tigers great is helping this former Sun spark a Blues revival for the ages
Hannah Kennelly
Carlton forward Ben Ainsworth concedes the Blues’ miraculous resurgence is ripped from the pages of a Ted Lasso script.
“It’s pretty crazy to be in this position,” he said ahead of his team’s elimination final against Geelong on Friday.
“Obviously, playing in our first elimination final off the back of the wildcard final, and where we were at 1-8 [win-loss record] at the start of the year, to be here now is pretty incredible.”
The Blues’ remarkable uprising continued last weekend with a thrilling win over Melbourne in a high-pressure wildcard final. Ainsworth was a key part of the victory, booting three goals in front of 91,733 fans at the MCG.
He said new coach Josh Fraser had instilled “a great sense of belief” in the group since he took over from Michael Voss mid-season.
“A lot of the pillars at the start of the year were laid in terms of the foundation of how we want to play and things like that,” he said.
“But it’s probably the small acts that we’re celebrating internally that probably doesn’t get blown up in lights externally, and I think everyone’s valuing that, and that’s incentivising our fans as well, which is good.”
After nine seasons and 158 games for Gold Coast, the dynamic forward was traded to Carlton at the end of 2025, reuniting with his former Victorian Country teammates from underage football Harry McKay and Jacob Weitering.
Ainsworth revealed he’d been doing “a lot of work” on his mindset this season with Richmond premiership great Alex Rance.
After announcing his shock retirement in 2019, Rance departed Richmond to focus on his family and faith – as a devout Jehovah’s Witness. Rance has since worked with Gold Coast as a leadership consultant and mental-performance coach.
“He’s [Rance] obviously still up on the Gold Coast, but he’s a fantastic person to have in my corner … pretty much just to filter out all the stuff throughout the week and over the game, and then reset for the coming week,” Ainsworth said.
Even since his move to Carlton, Ainsworth still catches up with Rance each Monday, describing the former Tiger as “a great support network”.
“[We] filter out everything, whether it was good or bad, just be refreshed for the coming week. And then also focusing on my strengths; just bringing them to the forefront of mind before the game on the weekend,” he explained.
When asked what the quirkiest piece of advice he’d received from Rance, Ainsworth grinned.
“Oh no, not a lot, but I can tell you at the Gold Coast days, he was just a ball of energy,” he laughed. “Like he’d roll into the room, just bloody dancing or whatever, singing. He’s a great man.”
Despite the growing fanfare around the Blues finals performance, Ainsworth agreed there was a sense of calm among the playing group.
“People are going to come for us when the bad times arise, and, obviously, they’re going to celebrate with us in the good times. But no matter what, we’re going to have each other there,” he said.
– Hannah Kennelly
Finals return for Geelong star looking ‘positive’
AAP
Geelong star Max Holmes is firming to return for an elimination final bout with Carlton, with Cats coach Chris Scott admitting the midfielder looked good enough to play last week.
Holmes hasn’t played since fracturing an ankle and needing syndesmosis surgery in round 19.
But the 24-year-old has completed full training over the past week and is looking increasingly likely to face the red-hot Blues.
Holmes ran freely during the brief time when media were allowed to watch training on Tuesday.
“He [also] trained last Thursday, and he looked pretty good to my eye,” Scott said of Holmes.
“If you put it in the really old-school, back when I started playing, he might have played last week because you watched him run around Thursday and go, ‘OK, well he can do it’.
“I just think we’ve shifted a little bit philosophically from those days.
“It’s getting to the point where he just keeps doing what has been asked of him.”
Missing out on a double chance, Geelong don’t have the luxury of giving Holmes another week off to be certain he is right to play.
Holmes would give the Cats’ midfield a giant boost coming up against an in-form Blues set-up featuring the likes of young gun Jagga Smith, Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps.
“I’m thinking hard without having come to a conclusion yet,” Scott said of the Holmes decision.
“But that’ll obviously be a team decision as well, led in large part by Max.”
If Holmes plays, the Cats will virtually be at full-strength after Scott declared small forward Oliver Wiltshire right to return from a foot injury.
Geelong still had the pre-finals bye and avoided the historic wildcard round, which 10th-placed Carlton were forced into and beat Melbourne last Saturday night.
“I’d prefer to finish top four, win the first week, miss a bit of footy … but this is this is a close second,” Scott said.
“Carlton is so hot right now, they finished 10th, and that’s less an indication of their season.
“More that half the competition, on their day, have a really good chance of beating anyone.”
The Blues will enter Friday night’s match at the MCG having won 11 of their last 14 matches since Josh Fraser took over as coach.
Carlton also have the recent edge over the Cats, winning four of their past five battles, including a thriller in round 12.
Hannah Kennelly is an award-winning sports reporter and Formula 1 writer at The Age.Connect via email.