FRANK TALK KEY TO COX’S FORM
MASON Cox was thinking about life after football when he was dropped to the reserves early in the 2022 season and the American thought he was done.
But first-year coach Craig McRae turned Cox’s season around with a dinner chat that has the 31-year-old now preparing to play a key role in yet another preliminary final.
Cox hasn’t missed a game since being recalled in round 10 and credited the “upfront and honest conversation” with McRae as key in his good form.
“We sat down and we talked about a few different things from that dinner and then another meeting at the club about where the future lied,” Cox said on Wednesday.
“I had to go back and play in the twos and get back into form to get where I’m at today.
“I think that upfront and honest conversation, with the relationship we have, can be credited for me being able to play out the rest of this year.”
Collingwood has only lost two games since Cox returned to the team, going on an 11match winning streak that included a 20-point win over Fremantle last weekend to earn a spot in the preliminary final showdown with Sydney.
Cox has already shown a capacity to perform on such a stage, his three goals against Richmond in the 2018 prelim helping take the Magpies all the way to the grand final.
He has been less successful in the only two matches in his 93-game career against the Swans, however, booting just two goals, including only one when the teams met in round 22, a match won by the Swans.
Several Magpies players battled illness that week and explosive midfielder Jordan De Goey missed through injury.
“I think Jordy’s been cleared, so that’s always a really big in for us, but we’re definitely excited,” Cox said.