Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Fremantle big man Mason Cox has penned a vulnerable open letter reflecting on his first year in Dockers colours, which ended in heartbreak.
The American ruck-forward had just two touches in Fremantle’s grand final defeat to Brisbane, who overcame a 17-point deficit with just over four minutes left to complete a stunning premiership three-peat.
Despite an Achilles injury to Dockers skipper Alex Pearce at the start of the second half, the Fremantle big man was only used sparingly, playing just 32 per cent of the game.
Slightly rainy conditions in Melbourne also didn’t suit the 211cm giant, but it’s fair to say Cox was barely sighted in the limited minutes he was used.
The polarising figure has a way of courting controversy, and drew some attention the week prior when he turned to the Sydney crowd on the final siren of the Dockers’ preliminary-final win over the Swans to rub it into the opposition fans.
It caught the eye of Jack Riewoldt, who kept the receipt after Cox’s modest grand final performance.
“If you do this sort of stuff — you shoosh the crowd, you wave goodbye, you send them off on their season — you’d want to turn up grand final day,” Riewoldt said on the Monday after the decider.
“And unfortunately for big Mason, he had a stinker on Saturday.”
Cox was given a lifeline by the Dockers after being delisted by Collingwood, where he had played 139 games since leaving dreams of a basketball career back home in Texas in 2014.
Reflecting on his own game on Saturday, that of the team, and his move from Melbourne to Perth in general, Cox subtly hit back at his critics.
“The older I get, the more I realise contribution isn’t always measured by what shows up on a stats sheet,” he wrote.
“There’s a different kind of fulfilment in helping the people around you grow in confidence, and hopefully helping them see in themselves what the rest of us already see in them.
“Sometimes your impact can go well beyond what most people will ever see.
“l’ve also dealt with enough challenges throughout my career to know they’re always going to come. What I’m getting better at is understanding whose voices I let in, and continuing to listen to the ones that actually matter.
“The people who have seen me at my best and stood beside me through my worst. The people who see the best in me when maybe I can’t see it myself. Who believe in me when things are going well, and believe in me just as much when they aren’t.
“Those are the voices I’ll keep listening to. Because the people waiting for you to fall will come and go. The people willing to help you back up are the ones worth holding onto.”
Specifically referencing the grand final, Cox added: “So yeah, Saturday hurts. I wish I could change parts of it. But I wouldn’t change the people I got to experience this year with.
“I’m proud of this group and what we accomplished. And sitting here at the end of it, I’m trying to look beyond how this loss feels right now.
“The destination is important. It always will be. But so is everything that happens along the way.
“The people you bring with you. The relationships you build. The standards you set. The lessons you learn. The way you respond when things don’t go your way.
“Get those things right, and success eventually follows.
“The destination is what everyone sees. It’s a moment in time.
“The journey is what shapes you long after that moment has passed.”
