Dean Cox inducted into Australian Football Hall of Fame

East Perth premiership player Dean Cox has been inducted as a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Cox arrived at the Royals via Dampier in the Pilbara, more than 1500 kilometres north of Perth.

Despite the physical distance, Cox was by no means in new territory. His mother Mary’s three brothers George, Richard and Eddie Michalczyk all played for East Perth.

George played 154 league games and was a member of the Royals’ 1978 Premiership Team.

Cox tasted his own success at East Perth, as part of the 2000 Premiership Team, where he claimed the Simpson Medal as a 19-year-old.

Recruited by the West Coast Eagles at pick 28 in the 2000 AFL Rookie Draft, Cox played 26 league games for the Royals between 2000-2003. He said the support of then league coach, Tony Micale, helped guide his early career.

“For a really raw, developing, young kid – to be able to work all week with your coach and for him to have the belief that I could play league football for East Perth, (it meant a lot),” Cox told SportFM.

The former ruckman said the leadership of East Perth’s senior playing group was invaluable.

“I started the year slowly but we had some really strong senior players in that group that guided us through and I looked up to them as much as I did my West Coast teammates,” he said.

“There was Devan Perry and Rod Wheatley who really set the standard for us – no matter whether I was at West Coast or East Perth, there was always such a high standard and expectation.”

Cox went on to play 290 games for the Eagles, in a career that spanned 14 seasons from 2001 to 2014. He is their games record holder, a six-time All Australian and 2006 AFL premiership player.

Cox is now an assistant coach at the Sydney Swans.

DEAN COX

• West Coast Eagles: 2001-2014 - 290 games, 169 goals

• East Perth: 2000-2003 - 26 league games, nine goals

• East Perth Premiership Player: 2000

• Simpson Medallist: 2000

• AFL Premiership player: 2006

• West Coast Eagles Club Best & Fairest: 2008

• All Australian: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012