Mason Cox


Mason Cox is an American professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League. Playing as a ruckman and key forward, he first played Australian rules football in April 2014 before making his AFL debut just two years later in April 2016. Cox had previously played basketball for Oklahoma State University in the Big 12 Conference and was the tallest player ever to complete athletic testing in AFL conditions.

Early life

Cox was born in Highland Village, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, USA to parents Jeanette and Phil. He attended high school in Flower Mound, Texas. Cox was a student at Edward S. Marcus High School, and was part of the school's state championship winning soccer team. Boston Celtics player Marcus Smart attended the same school and he and Cox would later be teammates at college.
Cox studied engineering at Oklahoma State University, graduating in 2014. While studying, he started playing basketball as a hobby. He initially joined the Oklahoma State Cowgirls' "scout team" to simulate Brittney Griner, former Baylor University basketball player. After being noticed by former head coach, Travis Ford, he was asked to join the university's men's basketball team as a walk-on. He played a total of 57 minutes for the Cowboys, scoring seven points. One of his highlights while playing NCAA Division I basketball was shutting down future National Basketball Association star Joel Embiid while defending him.

AFL career

Cox was invited to attend the 2014 US International Combine for potential Australian rules footballers, in Los Angeles in April 2014. After impressive performances in the skills testing he traveled to Australia for a second combine and on May 30, 2014, was signed by the Collingwood Football Club. AFL teams Port Adelaide, North Melbourne, Richmond, and Fremantle were also reported as having shown interest in recruiting Cox.
Cox played for the Collingwood reserves team in the Victorian Football League throughout the 2015 season whilst learning the game and improving his skills.
After playing well in the opening two games of the 2016 VFL season, he made his AFL debut on April 25, 2016 in the annual Anzac Day match against Essendon. Within the first 80 seconds of the match, he took his first mark and scored the game's first goal with his first kick in the AFL. Collingwood went on to win the match by 69 points.
On September 11, 2017, despite interest from other clubs, Cox signed a three-year contract extension, keeping him at Collingwood until the end of 2020. Cox continued his good form in the 2018 season, kicking a career-high 5 goals in the Queen's Birthday match at the MCG and was awarded the Neale Daniher trophy as Best on Ground.
In the 2018 Preliminary Final against Richmond Football Club he played a man of the match performance kicking three goals consecutively and taking many contested marks, Bruce McAvaney remarked "what has Collingwood unleashed" when talking about Mason's performance.
In the 2018 Grand Final he kicked 2 goals during the 3rd quarter and took many contested marks, while playing in Collingwood's loss.
Cox was seeking permanent resident status on a path towards Australian citizenship to fulfill his desire to live the rest of his life in Australia, committing to a multi-year contract at Collingwood. At the end of March 2020, he was accepted to become an Australian citizen.

Statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2015
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2016
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2017
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2018
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2019
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2020
! colspan=3| Career
! 59
! 73
! 34
! 319
! 206
! 525
! 242
! 96
! 451
! 1.2
! 0.6
! 5.4
! 3.5
! 8.9
! 4.1
! 1.6
! 7.6