{"id":806736,"date":"2026-07-17T19:45:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806736\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:45:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:45:22","slug":"mason-cox-the-five-most-remarkable-games-of-the-americans-afl-career-ahead-of-his-150th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806736\/","title":{"rendered":"Mason Cox: The five most remarkable games of the American\u2019s AFL career ahead of his 150th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mason Cox\u2019s journey from American basketballer to a genuine presence in the AFL is nothing short of something out of a incredible. Ahead of his 150th game, we take a look at his top five most remarkable games.<\/p>\n

AFL Debut<\/p>\n

It might not be his finest performance, but Cox arguably exceeded all expectations when he made his debut for Collingwood in one of the biggest games on the home-and-away calendar \u2014 Anzac Day.<\/p>\n

And the then 25-year-old didn\u2019t disappoint, booting a goal with his first kick in football within the opening minutes of the match in front of more than 85,000 fans.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Cox held his own, finishing with one goal, 10 touches and 11 hit-outs to show he could hold his own at the level.<\/p>\n

That Prelim<\/p>\n

In terms of pure impact, the best game Cox has played to this point in his career was in the 2018 preliminary final.<\/p>\n

Matched up against the best defender at the time in Alex Rance, Cox was instrumental in the Magpies upsetting the reigning premiers to book a place in the grand final.<\/p>\n

It all happened in the first 12 minutes of the second term, when Cox booted three goals to tear the heart out of the Tigers, putting Collingwood up by 42 points.<\/p>\n

\"MasonCamera IconMason Cox starred for Collingwood in the preliminary final. Credit: Michael Dodge\/AFL Media<\/p>\n

Five Goal Flurry<\/p>\n

To this point, Cox\u2019s best day in front of goal comes in the 2018 Kings (then Queens) Birthday clash, when he tore Melbourne apart with five majors.<\/p>\n

Cox was simply unstoppable, kicking the first of the match within two minutes and was a persistent dominant force throughout the match, ending up with five majors, 16 touches, eight marks and nine hit-outs.<\/p>\n

\"MasonCamera IconMason Cox with AFL great Neale Daniher. Credit: Scott Barbour\/AFL Media<\/p>\n

Early Success<\/p>\n

If his debut was impressive, Cox\u2019s fourth game was something to behold.<\/p>\n

Up against Brisbane at the Gabba, Cox earned the first Brownlow Medal vote of his career when he kicked four goals in a one-sided affair.<\/p>\n

It was another sign that the Magpies\u2019 experiment may well work.<\/p>\n

Best On Ground<\/p>\n

Cox has only polled three Brownlow Votes in a game on two occasions, the most recent which came in 2023 against Greater Western Sydney.<\/p>\n

Where most of his best performances have come as a forward, it was on this occasion at the MCG where he was incredible in the ruck.<\/p>\n

Cox not only kicked two goals, but had 19 touches, nine marks, four clearances and 24 hit-outs in a 65 point victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mason Cox\u2019s journey from American basketballer to a genuine presence in the AFL is nothing short of something…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,10133,10124,588,85],"class_list":["post-806736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806736","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=806736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}