FORMER Australian cricket selector and one-time Essendon listed player Jamie Cox has been named as St Kilda's new football manager.
Cox's appointment ends the Saints' search to fill the role, which was created when the football department was restructured after the departure of head of football Chris Pelchen.
A range of candidates were linked to the new role, titled general manager football performance, including Port Adelaide list manager and former Saints player Jason Cripps, Fremantle's general manager of player management Brad Lloyd and assistant coach Danny Sexton.
Sexton has been promoted to the role of director of coaching and strategy, the position that was to be filled by new Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.
There were suggestions that former Essendon football manager Paul Hamilton, ex-Saints player and current football director Andrew Thompson and AFLPA general manager of player relations Ian Prendergast were in the frame for the manager role.
But it was Cox who appealed most to the Saints despite having less experience in the code than some of the other candidates.
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"For mine, I was ready for a change, a different scene," Cox told AFL.com.au on Tuesday.
"I've always loved football; it was a sliding doors moment that took me to cricket all those years ago and I've stayed close to the game, I've got friends still working in the game.
"I don't feel as though I've missed too much but I don't come here as a football expert either.
"I'm no novice at the game but I'm coming here to manage the football experts and get the best outcome from this group."
Cox, 45, played cricket for 18 years in Australia and England, for Tasmania and Somerset as a batsman.
He didn't play a Test match but scored 18,614 runs at first-class level and holds the games record for Sheffield Shield cricket.
He pursued cricket despite being drafted by Essendon with pick No.19 in the 1987 VFL Draft, never joining the Bombers.
After his sporting career ended, he worked as a journalist and cricket analyst before moving into a role as a career and education consultant with the Tasmanian Institute of Sport.
He then held an administration role at the Australian Institute of Sport, combined with a stint on the Australian selection panel after replacing Allan Border.
He moved to Adelaide to take up a high performance manager role at the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) in July 2008.
Cox was sacked in May this year after an investigation into recruitment activities that supposedly violated the Big Bash League's regulations.
The violations involved the Adelaide Strikers BBL team and recruitment that was carried out during an embargo period.
Cox said he welcomed the chance to close the chapter on how his last role ended and embrace a new challenge.
"My next opportunity was really important to me and that's why I'm so grateful to have this one," he said.
"Two of the most enjoyable years I've had in my management career were at the Australian Institute of Sport, and it's just a wonderful challenge at the right time.
"It was also very important to come to a club that was at the stage this club is at, which is building a young team, where I think my skill set can be best utilised.
"To come and have the opportunity to mould a young group is very exciting."
CEO Matt Finnis said the Saints were thrilled to "get their man" after sorting through a strong field of candidates.
"It was never about making the quickest appointment; it was about getting it right," Finnis said.
"We had a comprehensive and exhaustive process, we spoke to a lot of people inside of football and out, and at the end of the day, we're thrilled to be able to land Jamie.
"For us, it's about developing a high performance culture and really maximizing our elite athletes and running an elite program.
"We just think Jamie's experience in doing that in cricket and at the AIS, the maturity and insights you get being an elite athlete yourself had him really well placed to transfer those skills into football.
"We just think he has a wealth of high performance experience, which he can bring into our footy club."
Cox will have to relocate with his family from Adelaide, where he has lived for six and a half years, to take on his first job in football.
He will start on January 12 and will also sit on the club's seven-person executive team.
