AFL Hall of Fame for Eagles’ Dean Cox, Port’s Greg Phillips
As Dean Cox lumbered around Subiaco Oval in 2001, few could have envisioned he would become a game-changing champion.
As Dean Cox lumbered around Subiaco Oval in the summer of 2001, few could have envisioned the fledgling Eagle would become a game-changing champion.
The rookie from Dampier in the Pilbara region was all arms and legs, a beanpole who appeared uncoordinated when training alongside first-choice West Coast ruckman Michael Gardiner in the early stages of his recruitment from East Perth.
But by the completion of a decorated 290-game career, Cox had changed the rucking role through his ability to run all day, with a career highlight West Coast’s 2006 premiership.
The 38-year-old, who is now working as an assistant coach at the Swans, was inducted into the Australian Rules Hall of Fame on Wednesday night alongside South Australian star Greg Phillips.
With the annual induction ceremony cancelled this year due to the coronavirus, the class of 2020 has been lauded in isolation, with tributes featuring nightly on Fox Footy.
The final two additions will be announced on Thursday night, but the quality of this year’s class is strong, with Cox and Phillips joining Lenny Hayes, Simon Black and Jonathan Brown.
John Kennedy Sr, inducted in the inaugural Hall of Fame in 1996, was elevated to Legend status on Monday night for a superb contribution to Australian football over six decades.
Cox has claims to being the finest ever Eagles player, a testament to his brilliance given the champions to come from the club.
The country ground where Cox first played his footy in Western Australia’s northwest is a beautiful one. And at his finest, the six-time All Australian made the rucking role easy on the eye.
During the period in which the Eagles were premiership contenders between 2005 and 2007, Cox rounded out the “Fab Four” midfield that included Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr. He could compete with the best tap ruckmen at ball-ups and then run them ragged around the ground.
Club legend John Worsfold, a dual-premiership captain and also flag-winning coach with West Coast, described Cox as the best Eagle he had coached.
“If I had to pick one, I’d lean towards Coxy,” Worsfold said in Cox’s final season in 2014.
“I’d lean towards the influence he’s had on games over such a long period of time, not just because he’s taller than everyone else, and he taps the ball well, but he kicks the ball as well as most midfielders and he gets possessions up there with the mid-tier midfielders in the game.”
The induction of Phillips is overdue given the class he displayed when representing Port Adelaide for 343 games over two stints in the SANFL and another 84 games for Collingwood over four years in the VFL.
The father of champion basketballer and women’s footballer Erin Phillips, he was named at centre-half back in Port Adelaide’s “Greatest Team” and featured in eight premierships.
Phillips was raised on a sheep and grain farm in Minnipa on the Eyre Peninsula and, after being schooled in Port Lincoln, became the dominant centre-half back in the SANFL for well over a decade.
Phillips was the Fos Williams Medallist in 1982, the year prior to his mid-career switch to the Victorian Magpies, and later captained Port Adelaide. The 61-year-old, inducted into the SANFL Hall of Fame in 2002, represented his state in national carnivals and State of Origin matches.
Legendary coach John Cahill, who lured Phillips to Collingwood to join him there in 1983, described him as a player who could be relied upon in any situation. “As a bloke, he is blessed with a contagious personality and a leadership quality which came through at Collingwood,” Cahill said.
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