‘Chaos’: Mason Cox sells candy with shock footwork for the Pies
It was one of the few highlight moments in a dire match for Collingwood but Mason Cox left two of the Giants in his dust.
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It’s hard to know if this is a sign of life from Collingwood or the sign of the apocalypse but Mason Cox’s moves were a highlight for the Magpies in the 14.6 (90) to 9.6 (60) loss to the Giants.
The knives are out at Collingwood after the 1-3 start to the season with the round two win over Carlton. They also lost by just one point to the Lions and a straight kick could have had the side at 2-2.
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But while Collingwood fell away late in the game to make it a 30 point thrashing in the end, the 211cm American left tongues wagging after he sold the Giants some candy with some brilliant improvisation.
With five minutes left in the third term and the Gians up by 15, Cox marked a wayward kick from GWS’ Jacob Hopper, who booted the ball out of the 50m.
Cox took the mark but went to move laterally off the mark — a no-no under the new rules — and the umpire called play on.
The standing the mark rule has been contentious with a country footy match also making the news for the “worst decision of all time”.
It left Cox needing to improvise.
While not the smoothest of moves, Cox stepped Shane Mumford, before almost shrugging off Toby Greene before handballing to Jack Crisp to kicked deep and earned the Magpies a free kick from close range and three straight goals.
While it wouldn’t last too long as the Giants corrected, the commentators, still in disbelief over what they’d seen, explained why it had worked.
“Cox steps nicely, double step from Mason,” Mark Howard said on Fox Footy. “Double fake by Cox out on the flank.”
Dermott Brereton explained the genius of the move.
“It just throws turmoil into everybody’s psyche ahead of the footy so the forwards start scattering and the back men are under pressure immediately,” he said.
Nick Riewoldt said it was “the definition of impromptu, he’s just made this up as he’s gone along. Right out of the manual that one. But chaos Derm, you’re right, something happens.”
The moves made their way around social media, but it was a Redditor that said it best when they commented: “Selling candy is one of the most beautiful things in football. This was so ugly that it became beautiful.”
The talk of Collingwood this week has been about making changes to the team but this type of move and the chaos it sews might just get the Pies going.
Pies in ‘a world of pain’
It comes as AFL greats Garry Lyon and Kane Cornes broke down the Pies’ current predicament on SEN Breakfast.
Lyon said coach Nathan Buckley may be working out if his passion for the job still burns bright, saying the Pies are in “a world of pain”.
“Nathan Buckley is going to find out whether the desire to be a coach still burns as brightly and as fiercely inside his guts as it did when he started,” Lyon said.
Cornes added that this is the “worst possible scenario” playing out after the Adam Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and Tom Phillips trades last season.
“If they started the season well we wouldn’t be talking about it,” he added. “The players they let go, they’re paying their wage and playing well, and its going to be a massive issue for Nathan Buckley and Collingwood.”
Originally published as ‘Chaos’: Mason Cox sells candy with shock footwork for the Pies
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