Darren Glass believes no West Coast player in the history of the club has had a greater impact as a player, a leader, and a person.

Chris Judd says Cox is simply the best ruckman he has ever seen. 

Adam Selwood says it is no fluke Cox has achieved what he has in football. 

The praise has been widespread and richly-deserved for Dean Cox. 

In surpassing club legend Glen Jakovich and becoming West Coast’s games record holder with his 277th match on Saturday night against Geelong, Cox assumes a mantle befitting of his personality and his physical stature. 

He is a giant amongst men at West Coast, and now in terms of games played, the biggest of them all. 

Selwood believes it is the little things that have made Cox the player he is; durable, consistent, brilliant.

"It's been no fluke, I don't think, that he's achieved what he has in football," Selwood told AFL.com.au. 

"Just with the extra hours he put in to get himself physically as strong as he could, and also from a talent point of view to get the most out of himself. 

"He's been extremely diligent and then a fantastic guy to have around the footy club, who has been held in the highest regard in terms of his leadership as well."

Cox's achievements stand beside those of any player in the modern era. As a six-time All Australian, a club champion and a premiership player he belongs in the pantheon of Eagle greats. 

But his new coach Adam Simpson, a former opponent for so many years, thinks Cox’s consistent match-winning ability is something that has been under-sold.     

"Watching the clips today it actually made me realise how many games he's won off his own boot in the last five minutes," Simpson said. 

"Standing up when it counts is the first thing that springs to my mind now when I think about Dean and what he's done over his career."

Selwood and Simpson also agree that Cox almost revolutionised the role of a ruckman in the modern game. Two-time Brownlow medallist Judd ranks Cox’s tap work as the best he's played with or against. Selwood says his running power made him an extra midfielder in the team. 

"Team's saw him as just an another midfielder," Selwood said. 

"He was probably one of the best tap ruckmen in the competition at the time, but once the ball hit the ground, Dean, to his credit, built his aerobic capacity up to where midfielders were and was able to spread out of the stoppages as well as the general on-baller."

Simpson, as an opponent, said his spread from stoppages and run around the ground was one of North Melbourne's biggest fears whenever they faced the Eagles. 

All this from a rookie listed player from Dampier in WA's north-west, who thought he was going to die on the sand dunes at City Beach in his first pre-season, and finished second-last in his first two-kilometre time-trial at West Coast.    

From little things, big things grow.