Cox has been appointed the Eagles' ruck coach, becoming the first playing assistant in the club's history and following the path set by Greater Western Sydney's Dean Brogan.
Brogan, who spent 2012 and 2013 as a playing assistant with the Giants, said it wouldn't just be the Eagles' developing ruckmen who will benefit from Cox's new role on the coaching panel.
He said the six-time All Australian could use the knowledge gained while he is coaching through the week to improve his own game as well as those of his teammates.
"Being an older player you need to have a few more tricks up your sleeve because you're not as quick and agile as you used to be," Brogan told AFL.com.au.
"I felt coaching helped my game. All the stuff you study through the week, you're able to use that on game day and you go in very well prepared.
"When I was out there I had a greater understanding of what the opposition was doing and what our players should have been doing.
"You're playing but you're seeing the game from a coach's point of view as well."
Brogan, who has graduated to the full-time role of ruck and stoppages coach with the Giants, would commit an extra eight to 10 hours a week to his coaching while he was playing.
He said it was the ideal stepping-stone into full-time coaching, with Cox clearly moving towards a similar post-playing career.
The 32-year-old was approached by new coach Adam Simpson about taking on the role after former ruck coach Simon Eastaugh joined Fremantle.
He will oversee young ruckmen Nic Naitanui, Scott Lycett and Callum Sinclair, preparing the trio to take full control when he eventually retires.
Although part of the coaching panel, he won't be a member of the match committee or have a say in selection, with playing clearly his first priority.
Coaching mentor David Wheadon, who runs the highly successful Next Coach Program, said the move towards more official playing assistants had merit.
It wasn't a new idea, however, with Geelong discovering the value of players teaching players during its premiership-winning era from 2007 on.
"One of the things we did at Geelong was a program called Advanced Skill Development, and my job was to facilitate players teaching other players," Wheadon told AFL.com.au.
"There'd be a tagging group and Cameron Ling would be teaching tagging, or there might be a key defender group with Matthew Scarlett taking that.
"It's an official way of tapping into a resource and a realisation that the coaches aren't the source of all knowledge.
"Usually no one knows more about their craft than the player, and no one would no more about ruck work at the West Coast Eagles than Dean Cox."
Both Cox and Brogan have completed Wheadon's Next Coach Program, with Cox graduating from the course in 2012.
He has coached at underage level, but Brogan said it was likely the champion big man had also been an unofficial mentor at West Coast for some time.
"He's probably been a coach these last few years anyway, but it sounds like they're stepping him up now," Brogan said.
"He's obviously got a lot of knowledge, now it's about getting it all out in the open."
Twitter: @AFL_Nathan
