Despite the eight-point loss, Magpie fans will be buoyed by the efforts of the athletic 21-year-old, who gathered 18 possessions and provided tremendous run and carry out of the back half in just his sixth senior game.
Cox will take plenty from standing experienced Hawks Joel Smith and Michael Osborne while playing on the wing and the half-back flank, a different role to when he played more as a key defender from rounds three to six.
But while disappointed with the loss and keen to atone next week, Cox is happy to be back in the team after returning to the side for last week’s win in Sydney.
“I got dropped from the team, went back and earned my stripes again I suppose you could say,” Cox said in the rooms after the game.
“Now I’ve come back up and the fitness is back. I’m on the wing, off the back flank, so just having a new role and trying to do whatever Mick asks me to do, so that’s the main thing I want to try and do at the moment.”
After spending 2006 on the rookie list, Cox was elevated to the senior list at the end of last year after impressing for Collingwood’s VFL affiliate Williamstown, and made his league debut in round three against Richmond.
While his 191-centimetre, 92-kilogram frame might suggest he is a key-position player, Cox possesses exciting athletic attributes, great skills and clean hands, allowing him to be versatile enough to compete in the midfield like he did for parts of Sunday’s game.
He even played ruck when back home in Western Australia playing for South Fremantle, but different positions don’t unsettle him, being in the Collingwood line-up is the main thing.
“As long as I’m out there, I don’t care where I play”.
Having not played AFL football for nearly two months leading into last week’s game against the Swans, Cox admitted to taking a while to re-adjust to the pace of the game and felt more comfortable this week, even if it was an extremely intense contest.
“Last week I’d forgotten the tempo of the game, and coming into this week I had to really step it up and get the tempo back again. The pressure was just amazing, and the crowd was getting into it again, they (Hawthorn) just had the little bit extra legs I suppose.”
