Sydney senior coach Dean Cox spoke to the media on Thursday (June 5) about the side's upcoming clash against Richmond at the MCG on Saturday. He spoke about the review of the game against Adelaide, his side's preparation for Richmond and how the team would look to bounce back this week.

On the review of the loss to Adelaide

"As a footy club, when you perform like that, you can't hide from it. We showed areas that we need to improve on, areas that weren't up to standard and spoke about how we get out of that. The vision was the vision, but it's now about trying to make sure that you can rectify those two performances we've had the last two weeks. Like I sort of said after the game, the contest pressure, effort and intensity all over the ground were just well below par. To Adelaide's credit, they're a great football team, but on our home deck or certainly in any game, we can't deliver performances like that. I think that was the disappointing thing to look at. Even with the tackle numbers and contested ball numbers, were they at the level that is fully required? No."

Preparing for the game against Richmond

"We made some tweaks to our session Tuesday. We'll do a little bit with that today. But the closer you get to the game, the more you start focusing on what Richmond do and how we can try and combat and beat them. That's one thing we've always done. We'll do the same. Our opposition meeting this morning was about them at their best and what we need to do to get to our best. So yeah, that doesn't change. I think that whenever a club goes through a tough period, you want to see a response from everyone. By Saturday, we will see how they respond."

On what the side needs to improve on

"I think the difference from what we got out of our contested ball to what Adelaide did and their ability to be able to punish off turnover was the biggest part. So that's something, first of all, we want to get our hands on as much as we possibly can. But when we do, we've got to get something out of it. And they were a little bit fiercer when they did win that ball. So we've worked on that throughout the week. That isn't a one-week fix, that's something that we want to try and continually work on and build, and that won't change."

On sticking to the process

"I realised when I got in the position that I understand what a head coaching role entails and what being at a football club entails. That if you're not performing well, well then, you're open to everything. And that's the nature of the game. One thing you do have to do is you have to make sure that you stick to your process and what you think about how we go forward. And that's probably during the times when you're not scoring so great. That's maybe the hardest thing to do. That's what I've found but you've got to realign yourself with where you want to get to and stay on that course."

On the importance of being disciplined 

"It's hard enough to win the ball or give yourself every chance than to give the opposition some easy ball. And the discipline acts... we've had that through 50m penalties, suspensions. We have to tidy that up because you can't have your best players missing games of football from incidents they can avoid. And the other part as well is you can't go giving the team the ball just by making some remark, doing something that they know is within the rules. So we speak about that every week after it happens and how we try and rectify it and educate the players and learn and try and make sure they don't get frustrated."

On Aaron Francis and Harry Cunningham

"I think Harry only did 8k last week, he might still be on restricted minutes, so that's something we have to weigh up. Is there anyone else on minutes that you've got to look after? And more so, what's best for him for the remainder of the year as well. Aaron's available, which is good. He's trained well for the past two or three weeks. So both of those names will be thrown up this afternoon."

On Errol Gulden

"He's still got a number of things to do, get through main training, we'll do some match play during our bye next week. He's got a bit to tick off but he's progressing really well. So that's the first thing that makes you happy as a coach is they're getting through what they have to, I do hope he’s back for the Port game."

On Tom Papley

"We're still unsure about what that looks like as he really ramps up in a match play or competitive stuff. That's a bit of a wait and see, but sooner rather than later, which is good."

On the Finals

"It's a long way away, we can't look that far at all, we're just not in the position. I think all the time you try and focus on what's right in front of you, we have to do that even more so now."