Sydney opened its 2026 season in style last week, with a huge 12-goal third term setting up a 63-point win over Carlton on Thursday night.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Cox said he had challenged his senior players at half time, particularly those in the midfield to match Carlton's intensity, and was pleased with the response.

"Like I said after the game, we were beaten through the middle of the ground for the first half or for parts of the first half. One thing we wanted to try and do is to get our best players into some form and to their credit they responded really well," Cox said.

"What we could do around the middle of the ground to gain ascendancy and then we were potent when we went forward, that's something that we've worked on.

"When we get our opportunity, we have to maximise those opportunities."

Sydney trailed by 10 points at the main break, but were able to flip the script with a 75-point third quarter, the third best score in a single term in AFL history.

Cox said the team had reviewed the match and despite the win, identified the first half was not to the standard the team expected of themselves.

"First of all we wanted to touch on the first half and the difference between the first and second half, when we go away from our system and our roles that we're required to play, you allow teams to get into the game and start the way that they did, so we needed to address that," Cox said.

"The players had a really good reflection on the weekend's game and are looking forward to making amends and certainly putting into practice this week."

After an injury impacted 2026 campaign, the Swan's stars were back to their best on Thursday night. In addition to the four points, Cox said it was exciting to see key players back on the field.

"The pleasing part was obviously, we've spoken about Charlie, but Logan hadn't played for over a year, Callum hadn't played a lot of footy," Cox said.

"Tom Papley didn't play a lot of footy last year, obviously, and Errol so it's just great to see those guys that have had really good summers put it into the regular season and excited to see what they can do going forward as well."

Papley, who had nine disposals and kicked one major against the Blues, had a interrupted pre-season due to calf issues, and was used as a "pseudo substitute" on Thursday night.

Cox said the plan was always to manage the small forward, particularly in the first few rounds.

"Yeah he was on (managed minutes), and it was part of the plan as soon as we got back from Christmas, is how do we get him to the start line and what does the start line look like?," Cox explained.

"For him it was about managing his minutes, bring him on, we want to make sure he's there when late if we do need it.

"And he won't be playing a full game again this week, I think it's hard to go just because you played one, you're straight back into a normal rotation. So we'll manage that as well as we can to make sure that he can influence and impact as much as he can whilst also understanding the demands of a long season as well."

Sydney hosts Brisbane at the SCG on Saturday night at 7.10pm. TICKETS available here