Seaby has thrived with the Swans since crossing from the Eagles at the end of 2009 and he said the prospect of taking on Cox in a premiership season clash was exciting.
“I’ve never really taken on Dean in a full-on contest so I think it’s a challenge I’ve been looking forward to for a while,” he said on Monday morning.
“I’ve learned a lot from Dean. Training against him is probably where I’ve learned my most and hopefully I’ve learned a few new tricks I can try.
“He’s been whipping me at training [for years] but hopefully we can change that around this week.”
Cox was pleased to see his premiership teammate playing well after securing a trade to a new club, following the Eagles’ decision to retain Seaby despite his request to move at the end of 2008.
The four-time All-Australian said he and Nic Naitanui would be scouring vision of Seaby to pick up any tactical changes.
“We have had some training with each other for a long period of time, so we do know a bit about each other,” Cox said.
“That’s the good thing about playing against an ex-teammate. You’ve got to try to work them out as quickly as possible to see if they’ve made any drastic changes to their games.”
While nullifying Cox’s influence was a main priority, Seaby said the Swans would spend just as much time trying to combat the power and athleticism of the exciting Naitanui, who was the catalyst for the Eagles’ solid win over Essendon.
“You’ve just got to be prepared for anything. He can do it all and he’s flying at the moment,” Seaby said.
“He’s got a lot of tricks up his sleeve and we’ll be ready for that but we’ll have a few systems in place that we’ll try to use to beat him.”
Cox said he had been amazed by some of Naitanui’s on-field feats - “He just does things that most other ruckmen can’t do” - but he cautioned that his young ruck partner would need more than pure athleticism to reach his potential.
“That’s the role of a senior player and the position I’m in with Nick, and obviously the ruck coach Simon Eastaugh, to try and teach him against the different tactics he’s going to come up against,” Cox said.
“If you’ve got to sidestep them and grab [the ball] then great; the next time you can jump and really try to mix things up. That’s where he can become a really great player.”
HMAS Sydney II Commemorative Football Game
Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles
Saturday 24 April, 2010, SCG, 2:10pm
Tickets from Ticketek
