"He was very understanding. He had some cricket talent himself, Sheeds," Cox recalls.

Not long before it had been quite possible  to pursue dual playing careers in football and cricket. The likes of Max Walker, Peter Bedford and Simon O'Donnell did it, but by the late '80s it was close to impossible. Craig Bradley was the last of the Mohicans.

While at the academy in 1988, Cox played some reserves football for Glenelg, alongside future Adelaide players Rod Jameson and Matthew Liptak. He had already donned the Tasmanian cap in first-class cricket though, and when something had to give, it was footy.

"I think of it that cricket chose me rather than me choosing cricket, it sort of provided me with some opportunities that I just sort of stumbled into I guess," Cox says.

The call was a sound one. No man played more Sheffield Shield matches than Cox, who amassed 161 matches for Tasmania spanning 19 seasons, his 10,821 runs in that competition the second-highest  behind Australian coach Darren Lehmann.

Come Saturday, as the national team he used to help select takes on Bangladesh (rain permitting) in Brisbane, Cox will instead be at Seaford, watching on as St Kilda's  football manager as the Saints  take to the field for their intra-club match.

Appointed to his new post late last year, Cox is among an expanding group of former footballers and cricketers who have switched sport after their playing careers to become administrators.

Simon Katich, once one of Cox's chief rivals in the densely populated batting stocks of the late '90s and early 2000s, has stepped up from being GWS runner to become football operations manager.

West Coast 2006 premiership player Brett Jones last month quit as talent manager at the West Australian Cricket Association to become Queensland cricket's high-performance chief.

Former Melbourne defender Alastair Nicholson is running the show at the Australian Cricketers' Association, while his predecessor in that role — Paul Marsh — though not strictly an ex-cricketer, comes from a famous cricket family, and now has the challenging task of steering the AFL Players Association through its next CBA.

Why the influx?

For Katich, it was not part of some grand plan.

"It all sort of came about by chance really," said the former Test opening batsman, who, while still playing cricket, met GWS chief executive Dave Matthews at a football function.

A chat soon became an idea and. in turn. spurned a job; a chance for Katich to return the sport of his childhood winters.

"I loved both sports. I probably had a footy in my hand growing up more than a cricket bat. The way things panned out, cricket just took over."

"It's impossible for the guys now [to keep on playing both sports]."

Jones cautions against the idea of players trying to live out an impossible dream after their careers. What's done is done; administration is not playing.

"I certainly wouldn't think it's a way to live out a passion for another sport, I would say that's a dangerous path to go down. I think what it does do is allow you to grow as a person and get different insights."

The one-time defender has a background in financial services, and his move was more about professional growth than rekindling a career halted by football while a Western Warriors rookie.

"The sporting opportunity to come back into the WACA was just one of good timing and good fortune more than a deliberate attempt to force my way into sport."

Cox — who has come from an ill-fated period at the South Australian Cricket Association — is a bit less po-faced about the notion of returning to a long-lost love, but is adamant that administration is not the same as playing.

"Since retiring from cricket I've had the opportunity to work around and alongside similar people trying to be the best that they can be. I find it a very stimulating work environment.

"They're two very different passions. I had a great passion to play sport, and now a very different passion to administer sport."