The most important player in Collingwood’s side returns to action this weekend when the Magpies take on North Melbourne at the MCG.

That’s the take of Adam Treloar, who this week outlined the significance of Mason Cox in the Pies’ starting 22.

The 211cm American was a late withdrawal last weekend with hamstring tightness, yet has replaced Ben Crocker in this weekend’s line up.

“Coxy being out of the game really hurt us,” Treloar told co-host Mark Allen on Collingwood Media vodcast 'Sports Galore'.

“He’s probably our most important player at the moment, the way he creates a contest and influences the game.”

LISTEN: Adam Treloar gives a progress report on his injured hamstrings on episode eight of Sports Galore.

The continual improvement in Cox’s form has been paramount to Collingwood’s success in 2018.

Playing predominantly as a forward, he has kicked goals in each of his last five games, and averages 4.4 marks per game over the course of the season.

Treloar believes Cox is crucial to the team’s form, even without the ball in his hands.

“When we want a get-out kick and we can’t find anything, we tend to just look for the big seven-footer down the line and we kick it to him.

“We didn’t have that on the weekend and that hurt us.”

Treloar and Allen discussed a number of entertaining topics on the latest episode of Sports Galore.

Other talking points included:

- Our winning streak ends (1:05),
- The biggest positive against West Coast (3:20),
- ‘Stupid’ potential new rules (5:00),
- Magpies of today vs Magpies of the 80s (6:30),
- Being life-long mates with Alex Woodward (8:45),
- The man who kept Ads at GWS (9:30),
- The hot and cold of the Kawhi-DeRozan trade (11:00),
- Pronouncing Jorge Lorenzo (16:20),
- A ‘champion’ calls it a day (17:45),
- Teeing up with Tiger Woods (18:30),
- Our most important player (21:00),
- Off-season plans (22:25) and more.