Mason Cox

Mason Troy Cox (born March 14, 1991) is an American-born Australian professional Australian rules footballer who plays for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Playing as a ruckman and key forward, he first played Australian rules football in April 2014 before making his AFL debut for Collingwood two years later in April 2016. Cox previously played basketball for Oklahoma State University in the Big 12 Conference and, standing at 211 cm (6 ft 11 in), is the tallest player to ever be measured at an AFL Draft Combine.

Early life Cox was born in Highland Village, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, to parents Jeanette and Phil, the youngest of their three sons. Cox was a student at Edward S. Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, and was part of the school's state championship-winning soccer team. One of his schoolmates and teammates in college was future Boston Celtics player Marcus Smart.

Cox studied engineering at Oklahoma State University, graduating in 2014. While studying, he started playing basketball as a hobby. He initially joined the Oklahoma State Cowgirls' "scout team" to simulate Brittney Griner, former Baylor University basketball player. After being noticed by former head coach Travis Ford, he was asked to join the Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball team as a walk-on. One of his highlights while playing NCAA Division I basketball was shutting down future National Basketball Association MVP Joel Embiid while defending him. After impressive performances in the skills testing, he travelled to Australia for a second combine and on May 30, 2014, was signed by the Collingwood Football Club. AFL teams Port Adelaide, North Melbourne, Richmond, and Fremantle were also reported as having shown interest in recruiting Cox.

Cox became known for his goalkicking accuracy in the VFL. Cox shone in the 2016 NAB Challenge pre-season series showing his ability to compete at that level kicking 2 goals against Geelong, his ability to take contested marks and average a goal a game across both the VFL and AFL drew notice. Within the first 80 seconds of the match, he took his first mark and scored the game's first goal with his first kick in the AFL. Collingwood went on to win the match by 69 points.

On September 11, 2017, despite interest from other clubs, Cox signed a three-year contract extension, keeping him at Collingwood until the end of 2020. Cox continued his good form in the 2018 season, kicking a career-high five goals in the Queen's Birthday match at the MCG and was awarded the Neale Daniher trophy as best on ground.

In the 2018 Preliminary Final against Richmond, he played a man-of-the-match performance, kicking three goals consecutively and taking many contested marks; Bruce McAvaney remarked: "what has Collingwood unleashed?" when talking about Mason's performance.

In the 2018 Grand Final, he kicked two goals during the second half and took many contested marks while playing in Collingwood's loss. He also dominated in its one-point elimination final win against West Coast in the 2020 AFL finals series.

Cox received special dispensation from the AFL to wear prescription sunglasses in competition. Cox suffered a torn retina in one eye due to an accidental eye poke in a 2019 game against Gold Coast Suns and a detached retina in the other eye after an on-field altercation in the 2018 Grand Final. He has had six eye surgeries in his career. After the 2019 injury, Cox said he had to spend two weeks in bed in a darkened room for 45 minutes of each hour, calling it "probably the lowest moment of my life."

Cox appeared in a 60 Minutes interview in the United States in April 2023. In the interview, Cox explained how sections of the Collingwood crowd would chant "USA USA" whenever he had possession of the ball.

In 2023, Cox became the second American-born AFL premiership player after Don Pyke in 1992 and 1994.

Cox was delisted from Collingwood at the end of the 2025 AFL season, after 139 matches for the club. In November 2025 in the Supplemental Selection Period after the 2025 AFL draft, Cox signed a two-year deal with the Fremantle Football Club.

Statistics Updated to the end of round 22, 2026.

153 !! 131 !! 82 !! 782 !! 463 !! 1245 !! 533 !! 236 !! 1686 !! 0.9 !! 0.5 !! 5.1 !! 3.0 !! 8.1 !! 3.5 !! 1.5 !! 11.0 !! 8