SYDNEY coach Dean Cox has downplayed injury concerns for star Isaac Heeney after the midfielder spent an extended period on the bench during the Swans' 16-point loss to Adelaide on Friday night.

Despite receiving treatment for a sore lower back, Heeney still managed 29 disposals, second only to Izak Rankine's 30. 

SWANS V CROWS Full match details and stats

Cox acknowledged Heeney was sore but praised his determination to play through it, noting he has "carried a fair load this year" while balancing roles in the midfield and upfront.

“The thing with Isaac is as soon as he rocks up, he wants to play and play all the way through,” Cox said post-game.

Adelaide strangled Sydney in the first and fourth terms, choking the Swans’ defensive exits and dominating uncontested possession to ruthlessly convert inside-50 entries into goals. 

While the Swans sparked a brief midfield fightback in the second quarter, clunky connection at the clearances ultimately handed control right back to the Crows.

Cox lamented that his side was only playing well in patches, pointing to recent lapses against both Adelaide and Fremantle the week before.

“We need to do it for longer. At the minute, we're not doing that,” he said.  

“If you talk about Fremantle for certainly a quarter and a bit and then you go to Adelaide for periods. So, we've got to work on our game.

“I said that to the players: we're all in. We're in a position that we put ourselves in, and we're going to fight our way out of it.”

Cox highlighted how severely the Crows punished the Swans during their periods of ascendancy, particularly through territorial dominance, with Adelaide winning the inside-50 count and heavily outscoring Sydney during the first and final terms.

“The start and finish weren’t ideal,” he said. 

“That's probably how I'd view it. Again, when you play the number one pressure and contested ball team, they did it for longer.”

Cox credited Adelaide's victory to their superior pressure and ability to lock the ball in their forward half, noting that Sydney struggled to win contests and execute defensive exits at both ends of the match. 

He also praised the Crows' high-calibre forward line for capitalising on their opportunities, stating, "they stood up when it mattered" by taking crucial contested and uncontested marks to seal the game.

This was reiterated by Adelaide coach, Matthew Nicks, who praised tall forward Riley Thilthorpe’s impactful performance following a challenging 2026 campaign compared to his breakout All-Australian year in 2025. 

Nicks highlighted Thilthorpe’s contest work, crucial defensive efforts, and two pivotal goals, noting that maintaining the form of both Thilthorpe and Darcy Fogarty makes the Crows highly dangerous in the forward line.

He also viewed the absence of veteran forward Taylor 'Tex' Walker — who was managed for the week — as a positive opportunity, proving the younger squad could defeat a top-tier team on the road. 

However, it leaves the Crows facing a welcome selection dilemma with their tall forwards, given that Thilthorpe thrived with increased forward-line minutes in the absence of Walker, who had kicked five goals the previous week.

“It's probably lessons from last year and our ability to firstly get where we want to get to, which is September,” Nicks said.

“Like every team, we're here to play as well as we possibly can to qualify for finals footy in September. The balance with that is being able to have players at their best if and when you get there, so we've still got some work to do in that space.

“But for us to be able to manage Taylor this week is a huge bonus for our squad. 'Tex' at his best is really important to us, and we will need to manage him for him to be able to do that. 

“We also need to see our team like we did tonight, where a slightly younger group can get it done against the best — or one of the best, and that's what Sydney are — and we did that away from home tonight.”

Nicks declined to comment extensively on a high tackle by Fogarty that left Swans veteran Harry Cunningham concussed and ruled out of the game, noting that while he had not yet reviewed the footage, his live impression was that it was a standard football action.