Mason Cox signs with Fremantle as a pre-season supplementary selection period (SSP) signing
Mason Cox kicks the ball during Collingwood’s preliminary final against Brisbane on September 20, 2025. Picture: Getty Images
ONE OF the AFL’s most remarkable stories will continue in 2026, with Fremantle confirming the signing of Mason Cox a month after he was delisted by Collingwood.
Cox’s rise from American college basketballer to premiership player at the Magpies has been well told, and the American has added another chapter to his story by joining the Dockers on a two-year deal as a pre-season supplementary selection period (SSP) signing.
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The SSP window, which runs until late in the pre-season, opened on Monday and allows clubs to add extra players to their list following the national and rookie drafts last week.
How much senior footy Cox will play in 2026 remains to be seen, with the Dockers already well served in the ruck department by Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy.
The 34-year-old Cox played 10 games in 2025, spending a lot of time as a permanent forward.
Freo had been on the hunt for an extra ruckman after Liam Reidy left during the trade period to join Carlton.
Cox was signed by Collingwood as an international rookie in 2014 and famously debuted on Anzac Day 2016, kicking the first goal of the game in front of 85,082 people at the MCG.
Mason Cox celebrates a goal during the Round 21 match between Collingwood and Carlton at The Melbourne Cricket Ground on August 3, 2024. Picture: AFL Photos
After 20 games over his first two seasons on the Magpies’ main list, Cox became a regular in 2018 as Collingwood shot back up the ladder.
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.
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.
