Mason Cox (born March 14, 1991) is an American-Australian professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who plays for the

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL). Playing as a ruckman and key forward, he first played Australian rules football in April 2014 before making his AFL debut two years later in April 2016. Cox had previously played basketball for

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

and, standing at 211 cm (6 ft 10in), is the tallest player to ever be measured at an AFL Draft Combine.

Early life

Cox was born in Highland Village, a suburb of

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, U.S., to parents Jeanette and Phil, the youngest of their three sons. Cox was a student at

Edward S. Marcus High School Edward S. Marcus High School is a public high school in Flower Mound, Texas. It is a part of the Lewisville Independent School District. Academics Marcus High School was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education in 19 ...

Flower Mound, Texas Flower Mound is an incorporated town located in Denton and Tarrant counties in the U.S. state of Texas. Located northwest of Dallas and northeast of Fort Worth adjacent to Grapevine Lake, the town derives its name from a prominent mound locate ...

, and was part of the school's state championship-winning soccer team. One of his schoolmates at Marcus, and teammates in college, was future

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

player

Marcus Smart Marcus Osmond Smart (born March 6, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Smart was drafted with the ...

. Cox studied

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, graduating in 2014. While studying, he started playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

as a hobby. He initially joined the Oklahoma State Cowgirls' "scout team" to simulate

Brittney Griner Brittney Yevette Griner (; born October 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the U.S. women's natio ...

, former Baylor University basketball player. After being noticed by former head coach

Travis Ford Travis Ford (born December 29, 1969) is an American college basketball coach, who is currently the head coach of the Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team. He was also previously the head coach at Campbellsville University, Eastern Kent ...

, 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 NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

basketball was shutting down future

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

star

Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who also holds French and American citizenship. After one year of college basketb ...

while defending him.

Recruitment

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 travelled to Australia for a second combine and on May 30, 2014, was signed by the

. AFL teams

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

were also reported as having shown interest in recruiting Cox. Cox played for the Collingwood reserves team in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) throughout the 2015 season whilst learning the game and improving his skills. Cox became known for his goal kicking accuracy in the VFL, being ranked equal 10th.Why Collingwood should unleash Mason Cox, Sydney’s big test
by Ben Waterworth from Fox Sports 14 April 2016 Cox shone in the

2016 NAB Challenge The 2016 NAB Challenge was the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season competition played before the 2016 home and away season. It featured 27 matches across 25 days, beginning February 18 and ending March 13. It was the third year in a r ...

pre-season series showing his ability to compete at that level kicking 2 goals against Geelong, his ability to take contested marks and average a goal a game across both the VFL and AFL drew notice. Despite his strong showing at AFL level in the NAB Challenge, he was not elevated at the start of the season and returned to VFL level for the premiership season. Cox played well in the opening two games of the

2016 VFL season The 2016 Victorian Football League season is the 135th season of the Victorian Football Association/Victorian Football League Australian rules football competition. There were 15 teams competing in the league. The season started on Saturday 9 ...

including a dominant performance up forward against Port Melbourne and as such earned a long awaited call up to the AFL.

AFL career

Cox made his AFL debut on April 25, 2016, in the annual

Anzac Day match The Anzac Day match is an annual Australian rules football match between Collingwood and Essendon, two clubs in the Australian Football League, held on Anzac Day (25 April) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). History of Australian rul ...

against

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington * Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport * Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United Ki ...

. Within the first 80 seconds of the match, he took his first

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * F ...

and scored the game's first

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

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 The King's Birthday match is an annual Australian rules football match between the Melbourne Football Club and Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on the King's Birthday ...

at the

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

and was awarded the Neale Daniher trophy as Best on Ground. In the 2018 Preliminary Final against

, 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 has received special dispensation from the AFL to wear prescription sunglasses in competition. Cox suffered a torn

retina The retina (from la, rete "net") is the innermost, light-sensitive layer of tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focused two-dimensional image of the visual world on the retina, which then ...

in one eye due to an accidental eye poke in a 2019 game against

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

and a detached retina in the other eye after an on-field altercation in the 2018 Grand Final. He has had six eye surgeries in his career. After the 2019 injury, Cox said he had to spend two weeks in bed in a darkened room for 45 minutes of each hour, calling it "probably the lowest moment of my life." Cox was seeking

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with suc ...

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. Cox became a citizen of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on June 22, 2022 at a special citizenship ceremony at the MCG along with over one hundred conferees.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season''. , - ,

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, , , , 46 , 18 , , 7 , , 8 , , 112 , , 40 , , 152 , , 58 , , 36 , , 317 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 6.2 , , 2.2 , , 8.4 , , 3.2 , , 2.0 , , 17.6 , , 1 , - class=sortbottom ! colspan=3 , Career ! 94 !! 100 !! 52 !! 505 !! 298 !! 803 !! 357 !! 145 !! 818 !! 1.1 !! 0.6 !! 5.4 !! 3.2 !! 8.5 !! 3.8 !! 1.5 !! 8.7 !! 5 Notes

Honours and achievements

Individual * Neale Daniher Trophy: 2018

Personal life

Mason's older brothers also now play Australian rules. Nolan played the

USAFL National Championships The USAFL National Championships is a tournament for Australian rules football in the United States. Since 1997, the National Championships have been a large event featuring teams from the United States and Canada in four men's divisions and t ...

team

Austin Crows The Austin Crows is a United States Australian Football League team, based in Austin, Texas, United States. It was founded in 2002. They play in the Mid American Australian Football League. The Crows are a mix of Australians, Americans and many ...

and has also represented the USA Revolution national team. Austin plays for USAFL club the Seattle Grizzlies. Mason has expressed a keen interest in promoting the game at the grassroots in the US, visiting the US to support his brothers at the USAFL National Championships.Mason Cox and brother Nolan help Austin Crows win back-to-back flags at USAFL nationals
thewest.com.au 26 October 2019

References

External links

* *
Mason Cox's profile
at OSU Cowboys {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Mason 1991 births Living people People from Denton County, Texas Sportspeople from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex American men's basketball players Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players American players of Australian rules football VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Collingwood Football Club players Naturalised citizens of Australia American expatriate sportspeople in Australia