Cox on the run

Dean Cox is closing in on the Eagles' games record. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper Source: The Sunday Times

DEAN Cox finds his end-of-season solace out in the Indian Ocean.

For the past 13 seasons, the man who is on track to become the first Eagle to play 300 games (he has played 253) has revolutionised ruck work.

An ability to run his opponents into the ground - often leaving them unable to walk the next day, according to Dean Brogan - moved Leigh Matthews to dub the West Coast star the finest ruckman in the game's history.

But the man who turned down approaches from St Kilda and Hawthorn and, more recently, Sydney is just a humble fisherman at heart.

Every year, Cox, 31, heads offshore with family and friends to an island 13km off the northwest coast, taking only fuel for the boat, food and fluids.

"It's a place I'll always call home," Cox said of the Dampier coast.

"We have a shack out there on one of the islands in the archipelago. There's a generator for power and it sleeps about 14 people.

"You can just get away from everything and do some deep-sea fishing and some spear fishing and just relax and catch up with friends."

Apart from the time Cox, then aged 10, boated out through a cyclone with his dad to rescue his cousin and mates - "It was a pretty intense experience" - the annual island getaways are perhaps one of the secrets behind his incredible durability, helping refresh body and mind.

Against a battered Melbourne today, the six-time All-Australian will notch up his 74th consecutive game, the most of any current Eagle.

At a time when he could be winding down, the 203cm motor man has had to step up this year, shouldering the load without the other half of the Eagles' superstar ruck tandem, Nic Naitanui.

The premiership ruckman admits recovering is getting tougher, especially "getting up the first couple of mornings after a game".

Eagles ruckman Dean Cox will again need to stand tall for his sides, particularly in the absence of Nic Naitanui. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow

But for Cox, the running power that has transformed the modern rucking role is more hard work than God-given.

Developing alongside champion midfielders Chris Judd, Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr throughout the 2000s, Cox has taken delight in building the endurance and merciless mind-set that enables him to exhaust opponents.

"I had the confidence to know that if it didn't happen in the first or second quarters, it would happen late in quarters or late in games," Cox said.

"If there is one, two or three quick balls-ups, when you are required to really spread from that stoppage, that's when I found I probably recovered pretty quickly.

"I wasn't the quickest runner but a lot of people can look quick by their reaction time."

A rookie pick, Cox considered himself blessed to have made up part of a golden midfield group, featuring Cousins, Judd, Kerr, Andrew Embley, Chad Fletcher and Michael Braun.

"Obviously, there's a lot of brilliance, but there was so much hard work to get that brilliance out of themselves."

Now there is another generation of players driving the Eagles' bid for a fourth premiership.

2006 Grand Final. Sydney Swans v West Coast Eagles. MCG. Victorious Eagles team with the premiership cup. Picture: Michael Dodge Source: HWT Image Library

He still thinks about "that last-minute kick" into the forward line, which Swans full-back Leo Barry marked in heroic fashion, denying what was widely considered a more talented West Coast side a flag in 2005.

"I just knew there wasn't too much time left and, if I had got caught with the footy 70m out, I would have been more angry," he said.

After a three-year stint out of finals, the Eagles have returned to being premiership threats.

Cox credited coach John Worsfold and the club's recruiting staff for developing the talent and culture to return to the top half of the ladder so quickly.

"They developed some young kids and obviously wanted to get a playing group that could have an impact when finals come," he said.

"You don't want to get through a season then get to finals and wonder how are we going to cope?"

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