Blanketing star Laurie Kettlewell, Cox paved the way for a Swan Districts win, and sixteen days later he was in the key defensive position for Western Australia on the Melbourne Cricket Ground.  He went on to play four times for his State that year.  “It was a big thrill,” he said. “But I was a train driver for the WAGR, and after the game against South Australia at Subiaco, as both sides were partying at Fremantle, I was driving a steam engine to Kojedda(near Bakers Hill) and back.”He recalled a game when regular Swan Districts full back, Tim Barker, was an absentee. “I went to full back, and at one stage a point was scored for the opposition. I ambled in to collect the ball for the kick out, and received a pass from John Cooper, our back pocket player, not realising that he’d taken the kick in.  I slowly made my way back to the square, and found myself on the end of a tackle. Luckily for me, the ball spilt out. It was an embarrassing moment.”   A fine exponent of the dropkick, Cox had “shovel fists,” attributed to his hard work shoveling coal, making him a hard man to outmark.  He finished third in 1955 Sandover Medal voting to John Todd and Graham Farmer and was winner of Swans fairest and best the same year. Selected for the Australian  Carnival, played at Subiaco in 1956, Greg suffered a hamstring injury, which not only kept him out of the State side, but forced many missed games that season. A work transfer to Amery(near Dowerin) in late 1958 spelt the end of Greg Cox’s league football career.Cox was offered six pounds a game and a pound a week for petrol to join York in 1960, and captained the Avon Valley side for two seasons, reveling in a new role as a centre half forward. “I was driving locomotives for six and seven days a week, and couldn’t train, so I gave it away after that,” he said. Greg was later involved with the Bassendean Juniors, both as coach and president. Son Gary played reserves at Swan Districts. An incident in 1987 caused his retirement from train driving.  “Two young girls attempted suicide in front of a train I was driving,” he said. “It was enough for me to call it quits.” Retired these days, you wouldn’t think the bloke is eighty odd. The tents on the Nullarbor and the shoveling of coal on the locos make ‘em tough. These days Greg is a regular at Peninsula Golf Club, with a ten handicap over nine holes. He is enjoying retirement with wife Marjorie and their three children and seven grandchildren, after spending fifteen years following the sun to Broome.  Toughest opponents he gave to Laurie Kettlewell and Perth’s Bert Wansbrough, while the best players he saw were John Todd, Graham Farmer, and Steve Marsh. Greg Cox overcame rejection at one club to become a star at another.  “Cronin did me a favour,” he said. A fine player at Swan Districts, he became one of the club’s great defenders.