Peel Thunder coach Adam Read is stoked to have Brennan Cox at his disposal for the WAFL grand final, saying the Fremantle defender’s situation was an example of the alignment between the two clubs working well.

Cox injured his calf in the final game of the Dockers’ home-and-away season against Carlton, forcing him into a stint on the sidelines for their first two finals.

And while he was not part of a 25-player travelling party which headed to Sydney ahead of their preliminary final clash with the Swans on Friday night, he is slated to feature for the Thunder in the State league season decider against Claremont on Sunday.

Peel have a cap of 14 Dockers for the game, but given they are playing on the same weekend as Fremantle, their AFL-listed players do not need to have met any minimum number of games to qualify as eligible to feature.

Read said Cox, who has played 153 AFL games, would be welcomed into Peel’s group with open arms.

“When someone of Brennan’s capability is available for us, we’re more than happy to take it,” Read said.

“From his personal point of view, it’s his opportunity to get himself ready for a potential AFL grand final, if things go right. That’s what the alignment is there to do, to set both clubs up for success.

“The other thing I point out about Brennan as well, sometimes it gets forgotten about with these older guys who come and play for us — he’s a premiership player at the Peel Thunder footy club. The footy club means something to him.

“While he hasn’t suited up for us for a while, he’s got great connection to the club and the people involved and the community.”

Cox has played just one WAFL league game this decade, which was a 2024 cameo as he worked his way back to AFL level following a hamstring injury.

Read said he was confident his injection into Peel’s defence would not upset their “really adaptable” system.

“There’s times where we’ve played three tall backs, even four tall backs,” he said.

“The beauty is, most of our players, whether they’re local Peel players or AFL-listed players, we build a lot of versatility within those individuals, so they can play different roles. There’s no hesitation about bringing someone like Brennan in.

“The boys are really well connected, both groups . . . he does know a lot of the guys, and the back-line he’ll be going into has a lot of AFL-listed guys he trains with week in and week out.”

After Cox trained strongly with Fremantle on Tuesday, Read said whether the defender would be under any workload restrictions in the game was yet to be determined.

“That’s something we’ll work through in the next couple of days, as we go into match committee, and, obviously, seeing what happens on Friday night,” he said.

Sean Darcy was listed as a test in Fremantle’s injury report on Tuesday with his knee issue, and Read said the ruckman’s participation in the grand final would hinge on how he trains throughout the week.