Cedric Cox feeling right at home in elite level with Brisbane Lions

Brisbane youngster Cedric Cox could be the unluckly player to make way for Allen Christensen but he’s never felt more at home with the Lions after a difficult year.

Allen Christensen is available for selection. Picture: AAP

Whatever happens at selection this week Cedric Cox now knows he belongs at the elite level.

He has also discovered through the toughest year of his life he has found a place to call home at the Lions.

Coach Chris Fagan has a major selection dilemma ahead of Saturday night’s final with Allen Christensen declared fit and available for selection.

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Christensen missed the Round 23 loss to the Tigers with a hamstring injury which opened the door for Cox to play his first game of the season and cap off a remarkable comeback to senior footy after a year of personal heartbreak.

Christensen’s experience as a premiership player with Geelong will make him hard to overlook but Cox certainly did not make the match committee’s task any easier, settling in nicely in the biggest game of his career.

“I have no doubt I belong at that level,’’ he said.

“I was happy to do my role, not try anything too pretty, while I was up there and it was a great achievement to be out there on the MCG for the first time.’’

Cedric Cox has settled in at the Lions. Picture: Darren England

To see Cox interacting with his teammates and cracking gags like any happy 20-year-old is a testament to both the players’ resilience and the support shown by the club when he was requested extended leave this year to fulfil his duties as an elder of his mob back in Hall’s Creek following the sudden death of a younger cousin he calls a sister.

Cox was a broken man in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy and the club feared his passion for football may have waned on his return.

Instead he came back and worked harder than he ever had and Fagan says now, for the first time in three years, he has developed a habit of walking into his office to talk about his game.

“I have been building towards being the person and player I want to be,’’ he said.

“That means being strong mentally on the field and off and strong physically as well.

“I’ve been trying to do everything right and ticking all the boxes.’’

Allen Christensen has overcome his hamstring injury. Picture: Peter Wallis

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That dedication should come as no surprise considering he left the remote WA community of Halls Creek as a 15-year-old to move to the Victorian Goldfields where he worked as a baker while trying to impress AFL recruiters ahead of his draft year playing alongside current teammates Jarrod Berry and Hugh McCluggage at the Rebels TAC Cup side.

“It was a rollercoaster that journey but all the hard work paid off,’’ he said.

In his first two years at Brisbane it was hard to get more than a mumbled hello from the silky skilled utility, who is the best kick off his non-preferred side at the club, but he says the love of his teammates has helped bring him out of his shell.

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“I had some tough times and the club and my teammates supported me, they were behind me all the way,’’ he said.

“They were always there for me and that was really great for me, it was what I needed and it has carried me along way.’’

His actual home is with Charlie Cameron, who is assuming the mentoring role Adelaide great Eddie Betts once played for him.

“He has taken me under his wing and shown me that support and love, and that has taken me a long way,’’ he said.

“He makes me feel like I have a home.’’

Originally published as Cedric Cox feeling right at home in elite level with Brisbane Lions