Sydney coach Dean Cox has urged the AFL industry to do more to destigmatise mental health issues as he mourns the passing of his former premiership teammate Adam Selwood.
Cox, who played with Selwood in West Coast’s 2006 grand-final winning side, said he had struggled to digest the news of the 41-year-old’s sudden death on Saturday, which came just three months after the death of his twin brother Troy.
“It was a tough weekend – for the Selwood family, for the footy club, and also a lot of us close mates to Adam,” he said.
“We spent a lot of time together. [It was] devastating to see that … there were some tough conversations on Saturday you had to have, which you never want to have.”
While Cox said mental health awareness, support and resources had improved dramatically within the AFL since his time as a player, he believes more needs to be done.
Though he didn’t offer direct support to the idea of a dedicated themed round, which has been floated, he said anything which encouraged those suffering from mental health issues to speak up and seek help – particularly men – would be beneficial.
Adam Selwood with West Coast teammate Dean Cox in 2007.Credit: Sebastian Costanzo
“There’s always continual growth in everything in mental health. It’s been a huge area that has grown, but also so has the awareness … the support behind it, as a football club and as a football industry and a society in general,” Cox said.
“Having people talk more about how they are feeling certainly would help. And for men, that’s probably the toughest thing to do. The conversations you have to have, I’ve certainly learned over the short period recently … you might think things are going well, but you don’t actually know. The more the awareness, the more opportunity that it is put in programs as much as possible, can hopefully avoid it as much as possible as well.
“We have welfare people, we have sports and clinical psychologists – psychologists that actually look after the person before the player. That has to happen. The support we give, the AFL give, is available to anyone – partners, families, the actual person. There’s a bit there, but still a lot of work to do.”
Meanwhile, Cox confirmed that Swans captain Callum Mills will play in Saturday’s clash with Melbourne at the MCG should he come through their main training session this week unscathed.
Mills dominated in a half of VFL football for the Swans’ reserves on Friday night in the curtain-raiser to their 16-point AFL victory over Carlton at the SCG, collecting 18 disposals, six marks, three tackles, two clearances and a goal.
“He played extremely well in the restricted minutes that he had on the weekend. There was always a plan last week. He got through yesterday. He gets through tomorrow, he lines up for us, which is great,” Cox said.
“I think we’ve also got to understand Callum hasn’t played a lot of AFL footy the last two years. So the expectation is for him to come and contribute to the football team, not to be the best player on the ground.
“We’ve got to make sure he knows his role. He’ll play that really well. And he’ll build as the weeks progress. Let’s get through one more [session] and it’ll be good to have our captain back.”
With the Swans to make at least three forced changes, due to Aaron Francis’ concussion and suspensions to Justin McInerney and Joel Amartey, Cox also confirmed that Taylor Adams and Hayden McLean, who was dropped for the Carlton game in a bid to send a “message” to the playing group, were also in the selection mix – the latter out of necessity.
“It’s about understanding that we’ve got to play a certain way, and what’s required individually and collectively – that you need to do that,” Cox said of McLean. “I’ve had conversations with him yesterday. I’ll do it again today. And we’ll see how training goes tomorrow.”
