Swans Senior Coach Dean Cox spoke to the media on Wednesday and discussed the side's injury list, the takeaways from the loss against Port and an update on Callum Mills.

On the side's injury list

"No, it doesn't (help), but, you know, we have 23 players that go out and play, and I expect them to play at the level that's required. If they're young, we want older players to lead from the front and lead by example so these guys can follow. If they're young, we want them to come and play to the system and to their strengths. We've been seeing that throughout patches, just not consistently so we need to get that right."

On increasing pressure on the opposition

"That's something we've got to look at, we didn't tackle, we were at 50% efficiency, so the opportunities were there, but we actually didn't stick a lot of them, and that resulted in a lot of goals, so that was part that we certainly had to address. On top of that, we were plus 25 or something in the contest, so previously we've been behind in that area, which gave us more opportunity to actually apply a lot of pressure. They're just some metrics, but collectively, we need to put more pressure on the opposition."

On reviewing the team's defensive transition against Port

"That's something we'll review, I think it's really important that you don't just talk about one aspect of the game, like the way you defend or the way you attack, it's how you set up both of those methods whilst you do or don't have the ball. So one thing that is really important is when we are moving the ball, our offensive shape will help our defensive shape as well if we do turn it over, so on the weekend we had some opportunities where they had some easy goals, we've looked at why that happened and the breakdowns that occurred, and then also when we created 29 front half turnovers, what the difference looks like. That's something we want to try and do with the players, is mix up our reviews to also make sure that they are always learning."

On where the team needs to improve

"I think one thing we've always been is we've generally been a really high pressure team and this year we're 13th in that area, so it's an area we need to improve at. We want to make sure that we're level across all areas of our game, that's one we're down in, so we need to get back to doing that."

On the forward line structure this weekend

"That's one thing with Tommy (McCartin) this week, he'll play back. I think one thing we want from him, and we've said all the way along, we'll do whatever's best for the team, and this week it'll be behind the ball. That's one thing I'll put my hand up, we probably need to settle Tom, we have had a really inexperienced forward line group, and for him to do a whole pre-season there is an option we decided to take last week, and did it work? probably not, so we put our hands up to that. So that's what we'll do this week, we'll settle that, we'll look at the next couple of training sessions and go through what our forward dynamic looks like without Tom, obviously without Joel (Amartey), without Logan (McDonald) and the like. Aaron (Francis) played a really important role for us for 40 minutes, so you know, his name, and Jack Buller, will still be up there and something we'll discuss."

On Callum Mills

"It's been good, it's great to have him back, he's doing the full session today, he'll train all the way through the weekend as well whilst we're away. He's been ticking off what he's had to do, which is really pleasing, he's still a little bit away, and we assess at the end of every session how he's pulled up, what can we do again the next session, do we increase it, what metrics do we chase? We understand how important he is for the footy club, so we won't rush him back before he's ready and when he's back, he'll be back ready to go and perform at AFL level."

On Errol Gulden spending time in the coaches box

"I'd rather him on the field, I think that's the great thing about Errol or a lot of the leaders is I'm happy for them to sit in the box, to sit on the bench and have an impact. They understand the players, they've played a lot of footy with them and it's also great for his development as well in the leadership space. He's got a great footy brain, it keeps him attached to the playing group, but I'd rather see him running around than sitting next to me."