Mason Cox：This Strange Game

Mason Cox was born in Texas, and played basketball at Oklahoma State University. Cox graduated in 2014 after completing an Engineering Degree. Later that year he attended the US AFL Combine where he impressed the scouts with his athleticism and skills, especially as an athlete standing at nearly 7 feet tall (211cm). Soon after Cox took the massive step of relocating to Australia to potential play AFL, although he had never ever played the game.

Upon relocating to Australia, Mason impressed a number of AFL Clubs including Collingwood, Port Adelaide, Richmond, and Fremantle. While the AFL was still very foreign to Cox and his brother, who was accompanying Cox on his first trip to Australia, Mason made the decision to sign with the Collingwood Football Club which was the beginning of his whirlwind AFL career down under.
Representing Collingwood, Mason made his AFL debut in the AFL’s biggest home and away fixture, ANZAC Day. In front of 90,000 people, Mason took a mark in the first two minutes of the game to calmly achieve his first AFL goal with his first kick. When that first contract was drawing to a close at the end of the 2017 season, a number of clubs tried to lure Cox, however he resisted any trade and signed on with Collingwood again. New senior Collingwood coach, Craig McRae, had helped Cox when he first arrived in Australia, and now backed Mason for the ruck and kept him under contract at Collingwood. Cox signed with Collingwood until the end of the 2025 Season. In 2023, he was a key player in Collingwood’s Premiership campaign to win the 2023 AFL grand final.
Mason Cox received his Australian citizenship in 2020 and has a real love for Australia. He launched his own Podcast ‘The Mason Cox Show’ in 2022 and signed on as a regular contributor with KIIS FM for 2023.
Cox featured in a 2023 60 Minutes story in the USA that was watched by 8 million US viewers.