Given Sydney's star-studded midfield, Curnow was widely tipped to regularly kick big bags of goals after making the move from Carlton to the Swans in the off-season.
Curnow managed just five goals across the opening three rounds, and although he kicked four goals against West Coast on Saturday night, it didn't represent a huge haul in the context of a 128-point thrashing.
The 29-year-old's finest season to date was in 2023 when he kicked 81 goals.
There's still plenty of time for Curnow to replicate that at Sydney, and Cox is pleased with the spearhead's early contributions, especially considering he often gets the best opposition defender, which frees up the likes of Joel Amartey and Logan McDonald.
"Charlie, people will be going the whole time, unless he kicks 150 goals they'll be saying he's not doing enough," Cox said.
"But the thing I was most pleased about with Charlie was West Coast played an extra behind the ball, and very rarely inside 50 did he (that extra man) mark it, because our key forwards provided a contest at all times.
"The criticism at times will always come, but the expectation in the first three weeks for us wasn't about only goals."
The Swans are flying at 3-1 and with a percentage of 182.9.
It's in stark contrast to last year, when they opened with a 4-8 record before ultimately falling just short of a finals berth.
Isaac Heeney was the star of the show against West Coast with 26 disposals, four goals and 518m gained.
But just as important was the hot display of ruckman Brodie Grundy, who tallied a whopping 28 disposals, nine clearances, 33 hitouts and a goal.
"He did it right from the outset," Cox said of Grundy's domination.
"I thought his first couple of centre bounces, the way he jumped and attacked the ball and then provided his follow-up work - he was really, really impressive."
Tagger James Jordon also played a key role in the triple-figure win, restricting West Coast star Harley Reid to just 17 disposals, one clearance and only 151m gained.
Sydney's premiership credentials will receive a huge test when they face Gold Coast in a Gather Round clash in Norwood on Saturday.
Malcolm Rosas is in doubt after pulling out before the West Coast game with a calf niggle, while Lewis Melican will be assessed after hurting his shoulder against the Eagles.Â
