Nick Dal Santo has taken aim at Collingwood forward Mason Cox, suggesting the American needs to put in another strong performance to keep his place in the side.

Cox burst onto the scene in 2018 which culminated in his three-goal, 11-mark domination of Richmond in the preliminary final, although Dal Santo doesn't want to hear about that game anymore.

“I’m almost sick of hearing about his Prelim. We’ve all had a good game,” he told SEN Breakfast.

“I don’t know if Mason Cox is as well, but I am sick of hearing what he did in the Prelim.

“It’s not the Prelim anymore. That performance was fantastic, was it one out of the box? Recent form says yes.”

The former St Kilda and North Melbourne star believes Cox needs to impose himself on games more often.

“He needs to find a way to be more influential on games. They need to get him in more positions where he can have an impact on it, whether he’s clunking the mark or bringing the smaller players in around him,” he said.

“They need to find a position for him that finds an impact otherwise I can’t see how he plays.

“I’m putting it on both of them (Cox and Nathan Buckley). It’s a coaching and positional situation as much as it is Mason doing his job.”

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