AS WEST Coast brace for life without Darren Glass, another daunting realisation has hit.
What will life be like without Dean Cox?
Saturday will be the first time since round 15, 2006 that an Eagles side plays for premiership points without either man present.
In that time, the pair have accumulated four best and fairests and nine All Australian jumpers between them, as well as winning the 2006 premiership.
Losing Glass was a dagger through the heart of West Coast fans, with the skipper revealing, in hindsight, he probably went on a year too long.
Losing Cox so soon after would be salt in a gaping wound. So durable has the six-time All Australian ruckman been that the clash with Gold Coast would have been his 105th consecutive match had coach Adam Simpson not chosen to give him a rest.
Cox is out of contract at the end of the year and is unsure whether he will continue. If he does he could become the first Eagle to reach 300 AFL games.
"Going on means that I am looking at playing 20-plus games next year," Cox explained in April.
"So that's the decision and it will be a decision that will be made with the match committee as well."
But Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett said this week that 20-plus games is an unrealistic expectation.
"Cox is 33 in August," Nisbett said.
"As you get older you have to manage your body better and I think if we want Coxy to play on we have to manage his body better.
"He has to manage himself too because he is the one who knows his body and at his age I don't think playing 104 games straight is the strategy that we need to adopt from this point on and I know Dean realises that.
"He can't continue to do the workload because he is one of those guys who trains everyday too. He trains, he plays, and he continues.
"If we want him to play next year we have to be smarter about how we manage him."
Cox's ruck partner Nic Naitanui plays his 100th match on Saturday against the Suns. Naitanui said he is hopeful that his close friend and mentor will continue on but is uncertain if he will.
"Fingers crossed he does," Naitanui said.
"He's still playing some good footy. He's a great mentor. He's our ruck coach at the moment as well. I guess it will come down to how his body feels at the end of the year and whether he decides to push on or hang up the boots."
Naitanui said the onus was on himself, Scott Lycett and Callum Sinclair to shoulder more of the ruck load.
"I do want to ease the load on him, give him a bit more of a chop out and let him play up forward a bit more," Naitanui said.
"So it's on me and the other two rucks at our club to step up and spend a bit more time in the ruck."
