AFL Player 13: Nik Cox - cleared to return! - 11/11

[Beerfish]

Contract Status: Out of contract 2026
My Boy Draft 2024: Pick 6, Rick Ross

 

[MattyB3150]

He had such a great first year and was one of the favourite for the rising star till his injury. His second year was a right off and most of his third year too.

It’s not just all on him..it’s up to our player development to get him back up to that level and beyond. At the moment most of the team look like spuds but it’s really just a domino effect. Most likely would look good in a good team.

 

[Lore]

What are you talking about? He’s copped plenty of criticism here…..and rightfully so most of the time.

Yeah but

RAGING

 

[ant555]

So had an eye on him all night and have watched the game back and double checked a few things that I could.
When he was on the wing he was all at sea. Did not know where to run or if he had to follow his opponent and generally ran around in circles.
Once he went back he looked like he knew what he was doing. Still had some nervous moments and some of his kicks where simply get it out of my area but he at least knew where the ball was coming from and his positioning was good.
Still has to have a big pre season and commit to just attacking the footy as best he can but defense is his spot. It is where he reads the play the best.

 

[Unfazed]

So had an eye on him all night and have watched the game back and double checked a few things that I could.
When he was on the wing he was all at sea. Did not know where to run or if he had to follow his opponent and generally run around in circles.
Once he went back he looked like he knew what he was doing. Still had some nervous moments and some of his kicks where simply get it out of my area but he at least knew where the ball was coming from and his positioning was good.
Still has to have a big pre season and commit to just attacking the footy as best he can but defense is his spot. It is where he reads the play the best.

That' good because we need defenders. Why have they been wasting him on the wing?

 

[ant555]

That' good because we need defenders. Why have they been wasting him on the wing?

I think they could see if he worked it out they could exploit his height as a marking target and as he is pretty mobile and decent at ground level he could be dangerous . Problem is it is hard to learn a spot at AFL level and wing is a specialized position. You really have to get it or you can run 14km and not get near the footy. Seduced by potential which can happen.

 

[TheGrizz]

So had an eye on him all night and have watched the game back and double checked a few things that I could.
When he was on the wing he was all at sea. Did not know where to run or if he had to follow his opponent and generally ran around in circles.
Once he went back he looked like he knew what he was doing. Still had some nervous moments and some of his kicks where simply get it out of my area but he at least knew where the ball was coming from and his positioning was good.
Still has to have a big pre season and commit to just attacking the footy as best he can but defense is his spot. It is where he reads the play the best.

If Zerk leaves and McKay doesn't come, it would be a reasonably big red mark on the recruiting team but not an absolute disaster.

I really want to see 20 odd games of what a Cox - Reid - Baldwin/Laverde trio looks like with Cox at genuine CHB.
It's not like we are going to win anything anyway, but it will be year 4 for those 3 (not Laverde) and push needs to come to shove.
I want to see some legitimate scope for a future backline come end of next year.

 

[Nuggs Bunny]

I just don't get why we play him wing and push Martin forward. I cannot fathom why we are doing this at AFL level with the season on the line.

 

[Lore]

I just don't get why we play him wing and push Martin forward. I cannot fathom why we are doing this at AFL level with the season on the line.

Perkins was in the midfield because Stringer and Setterfield were injured.

Only forwards over 185cm playing that day were Langford and Wright, and only ones available and not playing were Weideman and Voss.

They pushed Martin forward along with a second ruck to see if he could cover the role and pushed Cox up a wing.

At the end of the day you either win or you learn. In this case we learned, and started throwing Jake Kelly around instead, then brought Stringer and Draper back prematurely as a last roll of the dice.

So then we learned a few more things.

 

[thepokey]

Would you go so far as to say there's been some good .... learnings?

 

[faible]

Would you go so far as to say there's been some good .... learnings?

There’s been learnings, remains to be seen if they were good learnings though.

 

[cAsEy_18]

Anytime I hear learnings, I always think of the Seinfeld reservation episode, specifically the scene where Jerry is explaining the difference between "being able to take the reservation, but you don't know how to hold the reservation."

We're quite good at receiving the learnings, but we don't know how to act upon the learnings.

 

[Beerfish]

Anytime I hear learnings, I always think of the Seinfeld reservation episode, specifically the scene where Jerry is explaining the difference between "being able to take the reservation, but you don't know how to hold the reservation."

We're quite good at receiving the learnings, but we don't know how to act upon the learnings.

And that's really.. the whole point.. of the learnings.

 

[citizen-erased]

So had an eye on him all night and have watched the game back and double checked a few things that I could.
When he was on the wing he was all at sea. Did not know where to run or if he had to follow his opponent and generally ran around in circles.
Once he went back he looked like he knew what he was doing. Still had some nervous moments and some of his kicks where simply get it out of my area but he at least knew where the ball was coming from and his positioning was good.
Still has to have a big pre season and commit to just attacking the footy as best he can but defense is his spot. It is where he reads the play the best.

I see a CHB role in him
He reads it so well, he still has his jump and at times he reacted quick enough and opted for left or right to kick to where it needed to go

I fear the temptation is to dick him around though, due the logjam with laverde, reid, hayes, baldwin

In my mind our '24 backline should be
Baldwin - FB - mcgrath
Redman - cox - ridley

 

[faible]

I see a CHB role in him
He reads it so well, he still has his jump and at times he reacted quick enough and opted for left or right to kick to where it needed to go

I fear the temptation is to dick him around though, due the logjam with laverde, reid, hayes, baldwin

In my mind our '24 backline should be
Baldwin - FB - mcgrath
Redman - cox - ridley

I don't care which level it is, but Cox getting continuity playing purely as a defender would be the thing I'd most like to see done with him next year.

 

[FlyingV]

I don't care which level it is, but Cox getting continuity playing purely as a defender would be the thing I'd most like to see done with him next year.

A full preseason training with the backs. A clearly defined role, and then let’s see if he’s good enough in 12 months time.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

I see a CHB role in him
He reads it so well, he still has his jump and at times he reacted quick enough and opted for left or right to kick to where it needed to go

I fear the temptation is to dick him around though, due the logjam with laverde, reid, hayes, baldwin

In my mind our '24 backline should be
Baldwin - FB - mcgrath
Redman - cox - ridley

He is also one of our better a tacklers (arms and legs everywhere).

 

[Call Me Cake]

He was the one that I never saw anything in. Really meek. Always came across to me as a bit of a weakling who wasn't willing to take the toughness requirement seriously. I can see it in people from a mile away. That's the most dangerous of all because if you haven't got it between the eyes, it's like a cancer, it'll stifle everything else from within.

Will have his chance again, with a fresh preseason, good to see him running around if anything. But someone needs to sit down with him and tell him this isn't preschool. Needs to hone in on his body and put some muscle on, and start gaining some confidence to be ruthless. Otherwise he'll remain fresh meat out there.

 

[andleanback]

I see a CHB role in him
He reads it so well, he still has his jump and at times he reacted quick enough and opted for left or right to kick to where it needed to go

I fear the temptation is to dick him around though, due the logjam with laverde, reid, hayes, baldwin

In my mind our '24 backline should be
Baldwin - FB - mcgrath
Redman - cox - ridley

I feel once he gets settled and he gets more confident, we’ll really start to see he get comfortable with his kicking and biting off more attacking options

 

[Red Black and Blue]

Except for his body, I'm not worried about him at all. If he can stay out there, there is zero chance he doesn't make it.

 

[fairbump_playon]

And that's really.. the whole point.. of the learnings.

This was exactly my Worsfold mindfkkk

In performance based world there’s insight then there’s action. Without both of them nothing changes.

Insight without action is not yet learning

 

[The Donners]

Except for his body, I'm not worried about him at all. If he can stay out there, there is zero chance he doesn't make it.

I love your optimism.

He’s 3-4 years off having a mature enough body to determine whether he’ll make it.

 

[yodellinhank]

So we don't know whether he'll make it nor what his role is, so we need more learnings.

 

[andleanback]

Except for his body, I'm not worried about him at all. If he can stay out there, there is zero chance he doesn't make it.

I’m sure not worried about them mucking him around where he plays. If he’s settled in the backline, I have no doubt he’ll make it.

 

[citizen-erased]

So we don't know whether he'll make it nor what his role is, so we need more learnings.

I dont think we ever really knew what we wanted him for.
His draft profile was perfect for a team that had core pieces and wanted a bit of a point of difference player to work.
Maintain he was a great pick for the swans as a bit of a freebie and im surprised we couldn't jag a deal with them to get up to mcdonald.

 

[jdstorm]

When a player tells you who they are believe them. He’s a CHB, he played there all his junior’s and plays well in defense.

The only people who don’t know where he should play seem to be the people who thought Kyle Langford

4

Kyle Langford

Age

29

Ht

192cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.7

4star

K

8.3

3star

HB

7.3

5star

M

3.9

4star

T

3.3

5star

G

0.7

4star

D

17.4

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

8.4

4star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.6

3star

G

0.7

4star

D

8.2

2star

K

3.2

2star

HB

5.0

4star

M

2.0

3star

T

2.6

4star

G

0.6

3star

was a defender.

Should be the 3rd tall back there until his body develops. Pretty simple really