Collingwood ruckman Mason Cox has explained his pre-game incident with Giants assistant Shane Mumford in detail and taken a jab at the media after a “pretty wild 48 hours.”
The original vision of the encounter appeared to show the American intercept a Giants ruck drill and brush Mumford on the way through – vision that caused a stir throughout the footy world and fired up Cox critics. However, new footage signals GWS came into Cox’s area while he was practising his tapwork.
Having been given a please explain by the AFL, Cox had already apologised in a statement made by Collingwood, admitting he should’ve stopped his run-up despite being in the middle of a ruck drill.
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Further expanding on the topic on his podcast, The Mason Cox Show, the premiership Magpie revealed he’s “stayed off social media” because “I know it’s a pretty hectic place.”
Cox then went into detail on his perspective of the pre-game moment ahead of the Giants’ 32-point Opening Round win over Collingwood.
Cox issued a ‘please explain’ by AFL | 00:23
“DC’ (fellow Collingwood ruckman Darcy Cameron) went and did a few jumps, I went and did a few jumps. In this particular circumstance, the very last one I was going to do, the bounce pretty much went outside the centre circle,” Cox began.
“I asked the umpire: ‘Do you mind if just have one more real quick?’ He goes to bounce it again and I wasn’t really looking at what was going on with GWS or what was happening.
“I was just trying to get a real quick last one in there, that was kind of my mentality, just try and focus on the game and get through it. You take it out of the ruck, you move on, I guess it’s their time to get in there.
“I didn’t jump into him or stick a knee into him or do anything crazy. Just kind of got out of there way and said: ‘Cool, y’alls turn, no stress’.
“For me, whenever an umpire says you can do something, I go do it and that’s what I did.
“That’s the full story that’s turned into a bit of a whole debacle, it’s been a pretty wild 48 hours.”
Cox admitted he was originally more concerned about his “s**t game” – finishing with five disposals – including none in the first half – one mark and 19 hit-outs, before he was made aware of the backlash towards the pre-game moment.
Cox issued a ‘please explain’ by AFL | 00:23
It came after a spicy build up to the Opening Round clash over the off-season including Cox taking a jab at GWS’ home-ground, while the Giants made good on their promise to host a “Mason Cox” petting zoo.
Cox ultimately believes the original vision leveraged that narrative, teeing off at the way it was first depicted.
“With broadcast, they give them vision of something and that’s what they base it on without really understanding what’s going on behind the scenes and what’s happened beforehand,” he added.
“Obviously the scenario of what played out during the week and the last three months, it just made for good entertainment.
“It’s somewhat comical for me sometimes the way media construes things and the way things get put out there. Nowadays, with the way social media is, you see one angle and one perspective of it then people make opinions based off that and comment on it.
“You’re kind of used to it by now – it’s never ideal – but you do realise it’s part of the media sphere. To me it’s done, we’ve made the statement and I’ve made this little explanation of what it is and we focus on Sydney.”
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