Nathan Buckley says Mason Cox is still the ultimate opportunist in big moments.
asserted
Cox → say → moments
“The bigger the game, the bigger the opportunity he feels to prove his worth and elevate above the rest,” said Buckley, who coached the Dockers big man through almost seven seasons at Collingwood.
asserted
who → feel → Collingwood
“He’s the ultimate role player and he seizes the opportunity in big moments.”
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he → ’ → moments
Thrown on the scrapheap by the Magpies at the end of last season, Cox has another opportunity to prove Buckley’s point in Saturday’s grand final.
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Cox → throw → final
No one needs to remind Richmond supporters of his big-game credentials.
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one → need → credentials
In the 2018 preliminary final, Cox produced the game of his life at the MCG as Collingwood stunned the reigning premiers and the American became an unlikely cult hero.
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American → produce → premiers
“He’s had 15 disposals and taken 11 marks; eight of them contested,” Buckley said.
“That’s pretty significant in a preliminary final.”
Five years later, Cox was a premiership player, sharing the ruck with Darcy Cameron in the Pies’ 2023 flag.
Why does a footballer who has spent so much of his career fighting for his place seem so comfortable when the stakes are at their highest?
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stakes → have → highest
Cox’s older brother, Nolan, has a theory: Mason didn’t grow up with the game.
There were no childhood dreams of running onto the MCG on grand final day, no posters of AFL champions on his bedroom wall and no lifetime spent being told that September was where reputations were made and destroyed.
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reputations → have → wall
“I think, honestly, a lot of it is that he didn’t grow up in this bubble,” Nolan said.
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Nolan → think → bubble
“He doesn’t have these massive expectations on him from a group of people or a junior club that are idolising him.
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that → have → him
“He had never even heard of this sport until he was 23 so, it’s sort of just a bit of fun for him.
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it → hear → him
In a way, he’s playing with house money.”
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he → play → money
It also helps explain another defining characteristic of one of football’s most polarising players.
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It → help → players
Mason Cox doesn’t particularly care what people think of him.
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people → care → him
For more than a decade, Australians have struggled to decide precisely what they make of the 211-centimetre Texan.
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they → struggle → Texan
Nolan has watched the relationship evolve from afar.
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relationship → watch → ?
Why was one of the AFL’s biggest clubs investing time and resources into an American basketballer who had never played the game?
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who → invest → game
Then Cox became a curiosity.
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Cox → become → ?
The giant American was learning Australian football.
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American → learn → football
He later wore prescription goggles.
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He → wear → goggles
He kicked goals.
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He → kick → goals
He celebrated them differently.
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He → celebrate → them
The novelty wore off.
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novelty → wear → ?
Cox became more confident, more demonstrative and more successful.
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Cox → become → ?
The American wasn’t merely participating in Australia’s game any more.
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American → participate → game
He was getting in opponents’ faces, celebrating in front of enormous crowds and, occasionally, deciding the biggest games of the season.
“I was never really familiar with the term tall-poppy syndrome until Mason got a few years into his career in Australia,” he said.
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he → get → Australia
Nolan knows not every criticism of his brother has been cultural.
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criticism → know → brother
Across more than a decade in the AFL, there have been times when Cox has struggled badly, and others when he has looked capable of changing a final.
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he → struggle → final
But the intensity of the reaction to Mason has occasionally surprised his family.
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intensity → surprise → family
What Nolan eventually realised was that his brother possessed an enormous advantage when dealing with it.
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brother → realise → it
But the criticism mostly bounced off him.
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criticism → bounce → him
The champions of the 1990s and 2000s whose opinions still carry enormous weight in Australian football were not his childhood heroes.
“He wouldn’t have grown up watching any of these people, or even knowing who they were,” Nolan said.
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Nolan → carry → people
Ex-players’ opinions never carried quite the same emotional weight for Cox.
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opinions → carry → Cox
Cox spent years being criticised partly because he hadn’t grown up with the game.
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he → spend → game
Yet the very thing that made him an outsider may have become one of his greatest strengths.
uncertain
him → make → strengths
It might also explain why he has never seemed interested in becoming less conspicuous.
uncertain
he → explain → ?
And if you have ever wondered where the celebrations, confrontations and occasionally infuriating competitiveness come from, Nolan can help there too.
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Nolan → wonder → where
The Cox household was competitive long before anybody in it knew what a Sherrin was.
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Sherrin → know → it
Mason was the youngest of three brothers and spent plenty of his childhood being picked on by his older siblings.
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Mason → spend → siblings
He was also, Nolan recalls, the sort of kid capable of flipping over a Monopoly board when things weren’t going his way.
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things → recall → way
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
