Senior coach Dean Cox spoke to the media in Perth on Wednesday. From Tom Papley's return to the challenge of facing the competition's form side, here are the key takeaways from his press conference.

On testing themselves against the competition's best

"Not necessarily something to prove, but we always want to test ourselves against the best teams. What Fremantle have done over the years has been unbelievable. They play a really balanced brand of footy in all phases of the game and we've got to be alert and make sure we're aware of that."

On Tom Papley's return

"Papley's back. He's done everything we've asked him to do for the last couple of weeks and he's ready to go, which is exciting."

On the ruck battle between Brodie Grundy and Sean Darcy

"What Brodie's been able to do for the duration of the year has been really impressive. He gets a huge challenge. Sean Darcy has been one of the most well-performed players in the competition, not just ruckmen. It's really exciting to see Brodie play against a couple of quality rucks."

On CEO Matthew Pavlich's Fremantle ties
"We have regular chats each week, that doesn't change who we're playing. It'll be an interesting week for Pav, but he's red and white. You always have fond memories of the clubs that you spend time at, and no doubt he's got that at Fremantle with the time he's spent here, but he's all in for this one as well."

On the possibility of Fremantle using a tagger

"Possibly, they've done that. Our players are aware that if it does happen, we're going to try and help them through it and manage it the best way possible. It's not about one player. They all play an important role and they're there to contribute to the team."

On whether Sydney will try to rattle Fremantle

"No, I think it's just about trying to play the game on its merits. We're just all-out focused on what Fremantle have done."

On what Sydney learned from GWS's win over Fremantle

"The Giants were really impressive. They played their brand of footy "They had 31 of their inside 50s coming from clearance, so they did it around the clearance, which is a really important part to get field position.Fremantle are the number one scoring team from inside 50s, so you don't want to give them that potency at all."

On the response he expects from Fremantle

"Fremantle at their best.That's the way we prepare against any team that we play. We expect them to be on show tomorrow night and that's our opportunity to try and quell them as much as possible."

On the significance of top spot on the ladder

"It just means you're playing good footy as a football club. It's an amazing battle to be a part of. Two teams that are in good form get to do it in front of 60,000 people. You get an opportunity to come over here and take on the best team. You can't wait for it."

On coaching against Fremantle's Justin Longmuir

"I've just been really impressed with the way Fremantle go about it. He's doing a great job. The good part about Justin is that he has a bit more experienced than me. He gave me a lot of his knowledge on how to handle situations. They're playing a really process-driven game and that's exactly what Justin is. He's very strong in where he wants to get to and how he gets his players there."

On James Jordan's potential role
"There are a few players from Freo you'd want to shut down. That's part of why they're sitting where they are. It's the dangerous players that they have, whether it's in the middle of the ground or midfield. We'll have some plans in place. At 6pm tomorrow night, everyone will find out."

On the challenge of playing in Perth

"We speak about the environment that's going to be created. We don't talk about someone's home record. We just prepare that they're going to play really strong footy and we need to match that. The players love coming here. We do have a good record in Perth as a football club as well. It is an awesome experience coming over here with 58,000 of the opposition fans. Some of the players really enjoy it as well."