At the beginning of last year, Cedric Cox left his home in Halls Creek, in the remote northeast of Western Australia, to move to rural Victoria in order to further his football career.
His debut against Richmond on Sunday was a momentous milestone in what has been an exciting 12 months.
“To see a young man again get the opportunity to debut for the Lions and to see what it means to him and his family (was special),” said Assistant Coach Ben Hudson.
Cox was drafted to the Club with pick 24 from the North Ballarat Rebels in last year’s National Draft.
He wore Simon Black’s famous #20 jumper, joining fellow North Ballarat duo Hugh McCluggage and Jarrod Berry who made their senior debut against St Kilda in Round 3.
“It was a great effort and a great story, along with our other young players,” said Hudson.
“Hopefully in the weeks to come we can have more debut if they continue to play well at the NEAFL level.”
The Lions succumbed to a 52-point loss to the Tigers on Sunday but Hudson said there was only one way the team would get better – keep attacking.
Although they've had trouble at times with their skills, one thing the Lions have shown in the first month under Fagan is a willingness to work hard and apply pressure.
“We’ve got to stay in the moment. There are going to be times in games when things don’t go our way,” said Hudson.
“Our challenge is if they kick a goal, to limit it to one and not allow them to go, two, three, four which happened at times against the Tigers on the weekend.”
