Mason Cox threw it all in to have a far-fetched fling at Aussie Rules

MASON Cox grew up on the other side of the world and turned down a job as an engineer for a far-fetched fling at Aussie Rules. See him kick the footy for the first time

KEVIN Sheehan saw his mobile phone beep with a text message from Mason Cox.

“Are you available to chat in an hour and a half?” it read.

Sheehan’s heart sank.

Weeks earlier, in May 2014, Cox had produced one of the most exciting trials Sheehan had seen at an international talent combine in Los Angeles.

The talent veteran of 40 years experience was convinced instantly that the 211cm American could be the AFL’s next big recruiting success story.

“He ran a 20m sprint in 3sec, led the pack in the 3km endurance run and his agility was quite elite so, with his height, straight away you thought, ‘Crikey, we’ve got someone here’,” Sheehan told the Sunday Herald Sun.

“And when he started taking marks at the highest point in the drills, that’s when Derek Hine (Collingwood recruiting guru) peeled off and jumped on the phone.

“So you knew, right then, that this fellow has got it.”

But there was a problem.

The former soccer prodigy and Oklahoma State University basketballer had just completed his engineering degree and had a job lined up at Exxon Mobil in Houston, Texas.

He was due to start in three months and had arranged to holiday in Europe with friends in the interim.

Mason Cox had made a huge impression in his first year in the AFL. Picture: Colleen Petch

The clock was ticking on the AFL’s “next big thing”, so Sheehan called league operations manager Mark Evans.

“I said, ‘We need to get him on a flight (to Australia). I think we’ve got a special one here, and the clubs are all over him’,” Sheehan said.

There was strong interest from Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Richmond and North Melbourne, and Cox continued to impress on trial.

He then began the holiday in Europe, before making contact with Sheehan with his decision.

“I was set for a no, to be honest, because his job offer really was a super opportunity,” Sheehan said.

“But he said yes, and I thought then, ‘Gee, this is a big win for football’.

“In every game he has played he has done something special.

“You don’t want to put a ceiling on what he can achieve because he is so coachable and he has all the unique attributes that make him likely to succeed.

“We are seeing it out on the ground under pressure, now, and good things are happening.”

Cox knew the office job could wait as he began to dream about the professional career that never eventuated in soccer and basketball.

“It just turned into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where I could look back in 10 years time and think, ‘Would I be regretting it, sitting behind a desk crunching numbers?’,” Cox, 25, said last year.

“Or go out and chase a dream, and see what you can do?

“When I met all the teams and saw how serious they were about getting me over it was a kind of a no-brainer.”

On the European trip, the Cox packed a footy and started work on his kicking in preparation for his new life at Collingwood.

You don’t want to put a ceiling on what he can achieve because he is so coachable and he has all the unique attributes that make him likely to succeed.

- Kevin Sheehan

He filmed one of his first kicks, during a farm stay, and sent it to then Collingwood development boss Craig McRae.

There was the loping stride, the ungainly two-handed ball drop, and the pokey follow-through.

McRae still kept the clip, called Day One, on his phone.

“He took the footy with him all around Europe and he would send us videos of him kicking it every week.

“At the start, you can see he sort of has two hands on the ball and he drops it awkwardly.

“So I sent him some footage back concentrating on the ball drop and by August (one month later) his progress was brilliant.

“You could see him guiding the ball down with two hands down to one and that was the critical part.”

Cox and McRae would soon become Collingwood’s odd couple — the lanky American, who’s weight the Magpies list at 110kg, and the triple-premiership Brisbane premiership small forward (176cm, playing weight 72kg) spent almost every day of Cox’s first three months in Australia together in late 2014.

Mason Cox playing for Oklahoma State in the NCAA. Picture: Tulsa World

Their plan was to get the Magpies’ prized import ready to integrate into main training in January.

McRae recan recall the precise moment when it became clear to him that the Magpies’ latest recruit was a special case.

The Aaron Sandilands-size big man was already rucking and marking strongly with “duty of care” coach Anthony Rocca, moving quickly from basic skills to competitive training.

But then came the bullet pass.

“One day we were doing an outside kicking session,” McRae said.

“And I was leading out from the goal square and from 45m Mason hit me lace-out. I did not even have to break stride.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘He should not be doing this. Not yet’.”

But he was.

Cox and McRae went together to every AFL and VFL final in Melbourne in 2014, watching players’ running patterns and their body positioning and feeling the ebbs and flows of the game that was unknown to Cox a few months earlier.

But the Collingwood tall understood quickly, and always wanted more.

Along with his freakish athletic ability, Cox had the determination and work ethic to match.

“We watched a lot of football together and he was always ringing me on his day off, wanting to do more kicking,” McRae said.

“He was a very good problem solver and he picked up the technical skills very quickly, so his growth through that period was really rapid.

“And the way he trained in the gym to get physically strong, day in and day out, you just watched him and wondered how was he was getting through it all. But he never complained, not once.

“He just wanted to make up ground and was determined to do it really quickly.

“He was really driven to always get better. So that’s him, not the coaching.”

Mason Cox takes a bounce before kicking the sealing goal against Geelong last week. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Towards the end of Cox’s first VFL season last year, the ruck-forward began to bug senior coach Nathan Buckley frequently asking, ‘What do I need to do to get in?’.

In the Pies’ first preseason game against Geelong this year, the AFL’s tallest player twice outmarked gun defender Harry Taylor, showing his teammates he was ready for his chance at the top level.

And then, in what will surely been one of the highlights of the 2016 AFL season, Cox experienced the magic of a dream Anzac Day debut, in front of 85,000 at the MCG.

The football fairy tale was complete when Cox’s best mate Darcy Moore laid a perfect pass on the American’s chest within the opening minutes of the game.

Watching from the stands, McRae got goose bumps, as his protégé walked back to his mark and lined up for goal, just as he had done with him thousands of times before.

McRae knew the big right-footer would drill it from about 35m out.

“You’ve still got execute in front of 85,000, but it just shows the character of the guy,” McRae said.

“I have never been more proud of a development player that I have coached. It was a very proud moment.”

Cox’s family flew from the US to Australia at short notice to watch his Anzac Day debut.

His father, Phil, said: “To score a goal with his first kick, it was such a thrill.

“We were all on our feet, yelling, making a lot of noise, having so much fun.”

After Cox’s debut, Buckley said the big American “gave us everything”.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, the theme has continued over his first five games.

He has kicked nine goals, sensationally playing a part in keeping premiership spearhead Travis Cloke out of the senior team.

Cox playing soccer. Picture: Tulsa World

During Collingwood’s upset win over Geelong last weekend, the second-year big man delivered another spectacular moment, as he ran into an open goal.

Time stood still for the ruck-forward as he contemplated his first bounce in a senior game.

He admitted it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective, as he slotted one of the year’s most memorable goals.

“I thought about my first week here when I ran about 100m without bouncing the ball and the whole team looked at me, like ‘What are you doing’?” Cox said afterwards.

“But I had a bounce and the kick and I was fortunate enough it went through the big sticks.”

Mason Cox (right) celebrates a junior soccer title. Pictrue: Tulsa World

For rival clubs, the experiment has further opened their eyes to the talent riches that exist overseas, and there are high hopes more international big men will follow in Cox’s footsteps.

Sydney recruiting chief Kinnear Beatson, who helped turn Canadian rugby union player Myke Pyke into a premiership ruckman, said Collingwood had unearthed another diamond in the rough.

“It’s extremely difficult for these guys because they have to relocate half way across the world and they don’t have the traditional support structures here, in terms of their friends and family,” Beatson said.

“So guys like ‘Pykey’ and ‘Coxy’ have to have an insatiable desire to succeed and that inevitably makes the difference for them.

“He (Cox) was open slate to everyone, and hats off to ‘Dekka’ (Hine) because he had the conviction to go early.

“He deserves full credit for that.”