{"id":221985,"date":"2025-10-18T05:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/221985\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T05:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T05:37:07","slug":"trailblazing-afl-player-mason-cox-delisted-by-collingwood-after-11-year-journey-australian-rules-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/221985\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailblazing AFL player Mason Cox delisted by Collingwood after 11-year journey | Australian rules football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mason Cox, the first American to become a regular AFL player, has been delisted by Collingwood<\/a> after 11 years and 139 games at the club.<\/p>\n

The trailblazing 34-year-old confirmed in a video on Instagram that won\u2019t be with the Magpies in 2026 and thanked the club and supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think that you\u2019d never heard of a sport \u2026 to then being a premiership player,\u201d Cox said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the Collingwood supporters, the best supporters in the world \u2026 the feeling of having 100,000 people screaming USA at the MCG is something I\u2019ll never take for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cA massive thank you for all the support throughout my 11 years at the Collingwood Football Club \u2013 I\u2019m super proud and honoured.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The towering 211cm ruck-forward didn\u2019t confirm if he intended to retire or try to extend his career at another club but said he was \u201cpretty excited about what\u2019s next\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cox famously debuted on Anzac Day 2016, kicking the first goal of the game in front of 85,082 people at the MCG.<\/p>\n

A former college basketballer, Cox was signed by Collingwood as an international rookie in 2014 after impressing at two combines \u2013 one in Los Angeles, and the second in Australia.<\/p>\n

After 20 games over his first two seasons on the Magpies\u2019 main list, Cox became a regular in 2018 as Collingwood shot back up the ladder.<\/p>\n

Cox flies for the ball during the 2023 AFL grand final. Photograph: James Ross\/AAP<\/p>\n

In one of the most extraordinary preliminary final performances, Cox powered Collingwood into the 2018 premiership decider with a towering effort to help dethrone red-hot favourites Richmond.<\/p>\n

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The Magpies went down to West Coast the following week in a thriller, but Cox became a premiership player five years later when Collingwood defeated the Brisbane Lions in an epic 2023 grand final.<\/p>\n

Cox became an Australian citizen in 2022 during a ceremony at the MCG.<\/p>\n

He played 10 games for Collingwood in 2025, including both of their finals.<\/p>\n

Wearing goggles for his final few seasons due to a serious eye injury, Cox ends his time at the Magpies with 127 goals.<\/p>\n

With Australian Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mason Cox, the first American to become a regular AFL player, has been delisted by Collingwood after 11…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-221985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}