I think it's too easy to explain it away as younger players not being 'ingrained' with the game plan... although I think it's heading in the right direction.
The game plan, whatever it really is, seems to be to try and move quickly from defense into attack and having a presenting target up forward brings that into focus. With Cox, you've got a bloke starting to hold his marks and able to kick pretty well on goal. He's stepped up and improved with each game he's played, which is kinda handy. Early on it was Tabs that had stepped up and started delivering and a few of those games had a similar style to them.
It's only two players of course, but having that target has to lift the other players' confidence to move it quickly rather than get bogged down trying to work out the best option all the time. The good teams back themselves to have a target or a contest to kick to and they do it quickly. They also get bogged down at times though, so it's not just a Rolyball thing...
anyway, I think Freo are benefiting from having a slow big man who isn't quick enough to follow the ball everywhere and ends up staying closer to goal. Lurking. Like a sock puppet with a dorsal fin.
It's probably not the right time to start speculating on a team with Cox and Taberner playing because then you start imagining Cam Mac, SonSon and the Hills feeding the ball into them quickly and accurately and...
well. Embiggening.