AFL 2022: Collingwood big man Mason Cox reveals the chat that inspired him to fight for his spot

Collingwood coach Craig McRae has worked wonders with his preliminary final bound team, and a special chat with one player helped inspire him.

Mason Cox is bound for another preliminary final with Collingwood. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Mason Cox was thinking about life after football when he was dropped to the Collingwood reserves early in the 2022 season and the American thought he was done.

But as he has for the entire Magpies outfit this year, 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 after taking enough confidence from the chat with McRae to fight for his spot, a fight aided in part by the long-term absence of first-choice ruckman Brodie Grundy.

But Cox credited the “upfront and honest conversation” with McRae, who played a key role in the 211cm Texan’s development, including helping teach him to kick when he was first introduced to the AFL, as key in the form turnaround that has made him a crucial part of the red-hot Collingwood line-up.

“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 about his chat with McRae.

“I had to go back and play in the twos and get back into form to get where I’m at today.

Coach Craig McRae gave Mason Cox confidence. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

“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.

“For him to be able to give me a bit of clarity on where he saw the future lying, I got a bit of confidence from that.”

Collingwood has only lost two games since Cox returned to the team, going on an 11-match winning streak that propelled them into the finals, where a 20-point win over Fremantle last weekend earnt them a spot in the preliminary final showdown with Sydney.

Cox, who also earnt a contract extension on the back of his performances this season, has already shown a capacity to perform on such a stage, his three memorable 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.

But he said he wasn’t feeling the pressure to perform this time around because the Magpies, who finished 17th in 2021, had already defied expectations.

“I’m pretty relaxed, I’m not really a guy who stresses too much,” Cox said.

“You look at Geelong, who has been at the top a lot of the year, and they’ve got a lot of experienced and older players.

“They’re obviously probably feeling the pressure a lot more than someone like us, coming from 17th and with a younger team.”

Originally published as AFL 2022: Collingwood big man Mason Cox reveals the chat that inspired him to fight for his spot