MELBOURNE, VICTORIA – APRIL 25: Mason Cox of the Magpies runs with the ball during the round five AFL match between the Collingwood Magpies and the Essendon Bombers at Melbourne Cricket Ground on April 25, 2016 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/AFL Media/Getty Images)

Australian rugby league star Jarryd Hayne made quite the transcontinental splash when he tried to change sports and make it in the American NFL.  Hayne was able to make the roster of the San Francisco 49ers after dazzling in preseason, but ended up bouncing back and forth between the active roster and the team’s practice squad.

But the American-Australian pipeline is also going in the other direction with American athletes beginning to make an impact in Australian Rules Football.

Last year Jason Holmes, former college basketball player at Morehead State became the first born-and-raised American to play in a senior AFL game with St. Kilda, playing in three games as a ruckman.  (Others like current Adelaide head coach Don Pyke had been born in America, but raised in Australia.)

On Monday former Oklahoma State basketball player Mason Cox became the second American to do so, and on the AFL’s biggest regular season stage – the annual ANZAC Day clash between Collingwood and Essendon.

Cox started at full-forward for the Magpies and managed to make history by kicking the opening goal of the game, the first ever for a born-and-raised American in the Australian Football League.

At Oklahoma State, Cox was mostly a reserve player, scoring just seven points over three seasons.  Two years ago, Cox attended an international Aussie Rules combine in Los Angeles and blew away AFL officials with his measurables.  He was later signed by the Pies as a developmental project in May 2014.  Just two years after watching AFL clips for the first time on YouTube, he was starting for Collingwood at the MCG.  Before the game, Cox sent this tweet about the unbelievable nature of his story:

Head coach Nathan Buckley was glowing about Cox’s impact in Collingwood’s 142-73 victory over the Bombers.  Cox gained 10 possessions and took 3 marks in addition to his goal.

The height and athleticism of basketball players are traits that naturally transfer to the Aussie Rules game.  With the success of Cox making a successful debut on ANZAC DAY and the AFL looking overseas for more talent to unearth, we could see even more American college athletes go pro down under.  And hopefully it’ll lead to more AFL coverage in the states because if you haven’t seen an AFL game, it’s pretty much the most awesome sport there is.