One-Eyed Richmond Forum
Football => Richmond Rant => Topic started by: Lozza on March 26, 2009, 10:32:33 PM
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Even the club doctor had a shocker tonight, how could you possibly allow Ben Cousins to return to the game after obviously having a hamstring twinge at 3/4 time....could anything else have gone wrong tonight!!!!
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Yep I agree Lozza. Shocking decision.
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I am shattered: Ben Cousins
Ben Cousins | March 26, 2009
I AM shattered, but I've been through worse.
My hamstring tear could sideline me for two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, and once again I am in rehab, but my season is not over. It will test me unquestionably, but I've had a big 12 months and I know fairytales don't always happen.
The injury hurts me, but I am desperate to have impact at the Tigers to repay the faith. And the sooner that happens the better.
So, from that point of view, I'm gutted but this is an opportunity for me now to show value to this footy club off the field.
It's character building, it's in your face, but I intend to hit it head-on. I have to.
I'm genuinely a positive person and I do know I've spoken to countless young blokes who don't get picked for the first game of the season and tell them, mate, it's a long year, and if you can make an impact you will walk away satisfied.
What a night. It would be easy to focus on how I'm feeling and obviously I'm disappointed, but I need to approach this the same way I'd expect a younger player - or any player for that matter.
That is to get on with it and throw myself into rehab - that bloody word again - and be positive.
I know I'll think in the next few days what I could've done differently and try to find some meaning from it.
But what I do know is that from setbacks like this come positives.
What they will be, I'm not quite sure at the moment.
As I speak, it's close to midnight and I've just had 45 minutes work on my left hamstring and am still in the Richmond rooms.
All in all, it wasn't a great night for me or the Tigers.
The team as a whole is terribly disappointed with our performance and we need to regroup as quickly as possible and confront next week with a different mindset. It can be done.
We are confident it came be done.
In many respects it's been a long 18 months, and in other ways it has gone quickly.
It's all been a little surreal.
If I can indulge, it was beyond my imagination to have played in front of nearly 90,000 at the MCG last night.
Many of those were Richmond supporters and I can't describe in the right words the support I have received from the Tiger supporters.
I never thought it was possible to feel at ease as much as I have.
I enjoyed a great career at West Coast and have had fantastic support from Western Australian people, but what I did in the past counts for nothing at Richmond.
I now look forward to earning the respect of my teammates, on and off the field.
I understand, and will be eternally grateful, that the playing group was quite influential in getting me to Richmond and welcomed me back.
I respected and admired the senior players from when I was playing at West Coast, blokes such as Richo, Browny, Kane Johnson, Chris Newman, Joel Bowden and `Snake' (Troy Simmonds).
And I have been looking forward to the opportunity to play alongside them.
And Nathan Foley, too. Many people won't know this, but I was paired with him for the pre-season as training partner and he not only set the benchmark for me but for the whole group. He's a ripper.
Respect, though, will come from playing, sweating and bleeding on the pitch, all of which started last night.
It's been a hell of a journey.
Now on reflection, I think about the journey and an interview I did with Garry Lyon mid-year last year.
He asked me why should a club pick me. I answered, to much criticism: `Why shouldn't a club pick me?'
I answered in a purely football sense which I thought I was entitled to do, thinking that serving my 12 months' ban was enough.
To be honest, it's been a lesson in humility, self doubt and straight talking that took me from that time to abject despair in November.
This was no more evident than in the National Draft when 80 kids who had never played AFL footy were picked up and I wasn't.
After dusting myself off and having conversations with Gerard Healy and Kevin Sheedy, I realised I had a fair bit to do to convince a club to pick me up.
The end result was I was the last player in the last draft when picked up by the Tigers.
It was a humbling experience for a player who has played as much footy as I had.
Simply running out last night was an enormous thrill .. as it will be next time I come back!
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25249419-19742,00.html
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Cousins' injury not as bad as before: Tigers
richmondfc.com.au
By Mic Cullen
12:35 AM Fri 27 March, 2009
THURSDAY night's hefty loss to Carlton made for a horror night for Richmond, but injuries to recruit Ben Cousins and defender Andrew Raines were the final straws.
Six minutes into the final quarter, Cousins re-injured the hamstring he tore in his last game for West Coast – the 2007 qualifying final against Port Adelaide.
For Raines, it was the same knee that kept him to just two matches last season.
Cousins collected 12 possessions in a quiet performance and was running out of defence with Carlton full-forward Brendan Fevola on his tail when his left leg gave way.
He immediately went down to the rooms and didn’t reappear and, while he was being assessed, Raines was helped from the ground.
A hamstring is generally a three-week injury but, at 30, Cousins' history could extend that time.
However, coach Terry Wallace said after the game that Cousins' injury was a 'normal' one and would be treated that way.
"It's a three-to-four week hamstring – it was in the belly of the hamstring so it's a normal string," Wallace said.
"We won't know until tomorrow, but certainly it's not the damage that was done the last time that he did it.
"It's just a legitimate hamstring injury, so we’ll take it from there. We'll have the scans to find where it sits, but it's obviously disappointing for him and everyone involved."
Cousins was the focus of medical treatment at three-quarter time, but Wallace said it wasn’t a hamstring issue then.
"We discussed that with the medical staff, and the information I was given at three-quarter time was that he was sore behind the back of the knee and it was a completely different point.
"He was tracking to have the same game-time as he had in NAB4 (week four of the NAB Cup/Challenge series), so once he was given the all-clear with the knee, there was no reason not to put him back out there."
Wallace also confirmed that the Tigers had done their research before selecting Cousins with the final pick in December's NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft.
"You do all you due diligence," he said. "Matthew Lloyd had his [hamstring] torn off the bone and came back to play good footy out from full-forward to centre-half forward.
"There’s a hundred things. If you sit there like that you’re never going to make a decision ever.
"We knew that there was a multitude of risks with going for a player who’d been out of the game for that period of time, we understood exactly that.
"But he was picked with the last selection on our list. I don’t think since I’ve been here we’ve had a last selection play a game, so we believed that risk was worth taking."
http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/73815/default.aspx
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Even the club doctor had a shocker tonight, how could you possibly allow Ben Cousins to return to the game after obviously having a hamstring twinge at 3/4 time....could anything else have gone wrong tonight!!!!
Cuz apparently told the medicos he was fine but yep he should have been overruled given the game was gone.
Keep your chin up Cuz!
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To that F-wit on Sen last night who was going to through his memebership card out of the car as he travelled across the West Gate for 2 reasons, one being the fact we recruited Ben Cousins... ::) you are a nuff nuff
Ben Cousins showed last night what a good pick up he is.. showed more class and footy brains than our entire team... Cousins & Cotch running around in the same game - footy heaven
Beeny proved it is the number of possessions but what you do with them ....
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Send him to Germany to have calf blood and superglue injected into his hammies, or whatever it was they did to Cogs
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Ben will be thanking his lucky stars.....his reputation as a player won't be sullied any more by playing with duds as long as he is injured.
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Cousins suffered a grade one hamstring strain – considered in the low-end category for hamstring injuries – early in the last quarter.
“His condition today is better than what we expected,” Richmond Football Operations Manager Ross Monaghan said.
“We will take a conservative approach to treating Ben’s injury, and he is expected to be on the sidelines for 3-4 weeks.”
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/73875/default.aspx
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To that F-wit on Sen last night who was going to through his memebership card out of the car as he travelled across the West Gate for 2 reasons, one being the fact we recruited Ben Cousins... ::) you are a nuff nuff
Ben Cousins showed last night what a good pick up he is.. showed more class and footy brains than our entire team... Cousins & Cotch running around in the same game - footy heaven
Beeny proved it is the number of possessions but what you do with them ....
Agree 100%
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Send him to Germany to have calf blood and superglue injected into his hammies, or whatever it was they did to Cogs
Cogs ???? ;D
forget about this player who should have been delisted a few years ago
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Word out there is that we are at fault.
Cuz had a twinge at 3 quarter time ans let him play on in the last when the game was over.
Typical Richmond in managing injuries.
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l never seen Richmond ever manage a injury well
can rattle off many players who been damaged goods or should have been moved on more quickly
but now the supporters will suffer cause the club already has my money again
if they dish up poo again this year & miss the finals l will find someone else to barrack for :(
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Hey Tigermonk when you played footy and got an injury and were in doubt to whether you could go back on the field who had the final say, you or the trainer if you were adamant you were right to go back on.
I just cant see Cousins as having said no dont put me back on there, knowing the type of player he is he would have been busting a gut to get back out there.
However the point is still valid that the game was well and truly lost and he should have been taken off as a precautionery measure even if he was adamant he was OK.
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Hey Tigermonk when you played footy and got an injury and were in doubt to whether you could go back on the field who had the final say, you or the trainer if you were adamant you were right to go back on.
I just cant see Cousins as having said no dont put me back on there, knowing the type of player he is he would have been busting a gut to get back out there.
However the point is still valid that the game was well and truly lost and he should have been taken off as a precautionery measure even if he was adamant he was OK.
The stretcher, we were men who played real football.
There was only 2 outcomes
you were on the stretcher or you had the ball ;D
the coach
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Another ill fated comeback by a former champ.
I think we have seen his best.
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Send him to Germany to have calf blood and superglue injected into his hammies, or whatever it was they did to Cogs
Cogs ???? ;D
forget about this player who should have been delisted a few years ago
Speaking of players who should have been delisted years ago, check your avatar
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Im really dissappointed that people who thought it was a great story of human triumph to draft Ben are now out with the knives! Im getting bombarded with people saying that it was a mistake to draft him now, round 1 into what could be a 5 year career at Punt Road!
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Im really dissappointed that people who thought it was a great story of human triumph to draft Ben are now out with the knives! Im getting bombarded with people saying that it was a mistake to draft him now, round 1 into what could be a 5 year career at Punt Road!
Dont know about five I would have thought two or three max, but your point is valid GR12.
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You're on, Ben Cousins
Mark Stevens | March 28, 2009
LEADING sports medico Peter Larkins has expressed surprise at Richmond's decision to send Ben Cousins back into battle after three-quarter time on Thursday night.
Larkins was convinced Cousins' first game with the Tigers was over when he consulted medical staff at the final change.
Richmond has defended the decision to put Cousins back on the ground after the break, saying the medicos cleared him after treatment for soreness at the back of his knee.
But Larkins, close to the bench and huddle in his role as boundary rider for Triple M, said Cousins was having work on his hamstrings.
"He indicated to them that he was sore. The doctor spoke to him and then two of the physios who treat him worked on his right and left hamstring. The main one was his left one," Larkins said.
Cousins started the final term on the bench and Larkins said he had a four to five-minute conversation with club medical staff.
"He did a couple of run-throughs, a couple of high kicks extending his legs," Larkins said.
"And I thought they made a call not to put him back on because he was shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders saying it's not bad, but it's not great.
"I would have thought in that situation, with the state of the game, it would have meant the end of it."
Larkins said Cousins headed for the race, keen for a toilet break, only to be told by Tigers conditioning expert John Vickery that he needed AFL approval under new rules.
"While Ben was standing at the top of the race, Shane Tuck was coming off and they yelled out, 'Hey Cuz, you're on'. He turned around and just ran on to the ground," Larkins said.
"He might have said he was fine, but when he went back on we saw the result."
Cousins suffered a grade-one tear in his left hamstring soon after returning to the fray, in a horror night for the Tigers.
The club said yesterday Cousins had pulled up better than expected and would miss three to four weeks.
Tigers assistant coach David King was adamant Cousins was not troubled by a hamstring problem at the final break.
"It wasn't the hamstring that was causing him concern. It was a problem in behind his knee, it's a sore spot there," King said on 3AW last night.
"They can say what they like, the fact is the medical people checked him over and they ticked him off as right to go back on and we backed them in.
"That's the debate, everyone's talking about 'Would you put him back on with a problem with his hamstring?' He didn't have that, so it's over."
Cousins' injury is to the "belly" of the hamstring, midway between the buttock and the knee.
Larkins said it was the fourth time Cousins had injured his left hamstring and tipped he could be out for up to six weeks.
"Admittedly, he didn't have any trouble at all in his Brownlow year of 2005, but he had trouble in 2006 and 2007," Larkins said.
"Anything from four to six weeks is average in a case like this. I think it is a real setback.
"It was the most predictable thing that was going to happen. It was a matter of when and unfortunately it's happened a little more than three-quarters into his first game."
Cousins found sympathy from the enemy camp after the match, with both Carlton coach Brett Ratten and skipper Chris Judd wishing him well.
"I will give him a call in a week or so when things have settled down for him," Judd said. "It's a tough break, isn't it - it's AFL footy - but he'll put in the rehab and he'll work hard on getting it right.
"Hopefully he's back out there sooner rather than later."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25253056-19742,00.html
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Cousins ... out for 3-4 weeks?
how about Raines?
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Im really dissappointed that people who thought it was a great story of human triumph to draft Ben are now out with the knives! Im getting bombarded with people saying that it was a mistake to draft him now, round 1 into what could be a 5 year career at Punt Road!
The money that has been banked by the club because of Ben Cousins now means that irrespective of what happens with Ben, that it has been a successful endeavor for the club. If we can get 10 to 15 games now that would be a bonus.
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Do you remember when Cogs came off in the gave in Tassie and said his knee was rooted? And the Richmond medics says no worrys mate go back on, and he did, and he took a good mark but in the process did his ACL?
I cannot beleive it happened again Thurs. night with Cuz
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Do you remember when Cogs came off in the gave in Tassie and said his knee was rooted? And the Richmond medics says no worrys mate go back on, and he did, and he took a good mark but in the process did his ACL?
I cannot beleive it happened again Thurs. night with Cuz
That is absolute garbage, talk about using a little artistic license on the truth
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Interesting to see how the club goes over the next couple of weeks without Cuz being the main attraction of the media. It's all back on Wallace and the rest of the team now. As Cambo said in Fighting Tiger there's never a dull moment at Tigerland.
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Eddie on Cuz....
Stay strong in tough times
Eddie Maguire | March 29, 2009
Thursday night's match between Richmond and Carlton was the perfect example.
There was no earthly reason why that match should have caused the excitement it did.
Carlton is on the move, no doubt about that, and Richmond has been the talk of the summer. And, of course, there was the Ben Cousins factor.
But since 2000, the once-great clubs have provided five wooden spoons.
The Tigers' great white hope was a 30-year-old recovering drug addict with a dodgy hamstring.
Yet more than 86,000 turned up and at least until halfway through the first quarter brought a joy and expectation that neither side has tasted since last century.
By the end of the night, the Blues marketing slogan, "They know we are coming" had become a mantra for the supporters of Carlton. For the Tigers there was bitter disappointment, but it is round one of a long season and plenty more twists and turns will be had before the season can be assessed.
To me, Cousins has already achieved so much more than anyone could have hoped for -- maybe himself included.
To have the will to fight his drug addiction and at the same time present himself in such condition to be selected to play AFL is remarkable.
Any player over 30 recovering from the hamstring injury he suffered in his last game 18 months ago for West Coast will be a week-to-week proposition.
It is what he can provide the Tigers this year as much by example and inspiration that may yet provide Richmond with a return on its investment.
In recent times, Essendon's Matthew Lloyd and former Collingwood great Nathan Buckley suffered chronic hamstring problems.
They are two of the best players of any era; they are mentally tough and leave nothing to chance in their preparation.
In Buckley's case, he walked from the MCG in the preliminary final of 2007, his hamstring gone -- he wouldn't have made the Grand Final even if Collingwood had.
Lloyd is still fighting his way back after suffering a similar hamstring problem to Cousins.
Cousins' hammy is just one part of his comeback equation and that is what makes his achievement in getting on the ground amazing.
He is off the ground for at least a month with this damaged hamstring, but we can all learn from him as he begins a further comeback. Keep fighting, Benny.
The excesses of his life have been well documented and now he must adjust to the excesses of his playing and training regime.
His obsessive power running and training preparation may have to be adjusted, but Cousins' setback may turn out to offer even more hope for those looking to learn from his circumstances.
Mick Malthouse has a motto: "That those with the most invested are the last to surrender".
That is why, with such a big emotional investment, that everyone who falls in love with a footy club, whether they be player, administrator, coach or supporter, feels the loss of a game of footy in such a personal way.
It is why the Tiger fans were so hurt leaving the MCG. It is why the Carlton fans were so exhilarated -- their wilderness years look like they're coming to an end.
It is why we keep on fronting up. It is a metaphor for the human condition.
It is why the people of Victoria's bushfire areas are looking to regrow their lives. Why all our hearts sank when Cousins went down. Why we are all now barracking for him to hang in and come good.
And why we must make sure that those who feel there is nowhere left to go, and nothing to look forward to, know that where there is life, there is hope.
In life, in business, in nature and in sport.
Don't give up.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25256140-5000117,00.html
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Cousins backs Richmond medical staff
AAP - March 29, 2009, 6:32 pm
Ben Cousins has strongly defended the Richmond medical staff after suffering a hamstring injury in the Tigers' disastrous start to the AFL season.
Cousins suffered a grade-one left hamstring tear six minutes into the last quarter on Thursday night at the MCG.
It capped a shocking night for the Tigers, who lost by 83 points.
At three-quarter time, medical personnel were looking at the back of Cousins' left knee.
But he said that was an unrelated issue to his hamstring.
There has been widespread speculation about why he returned to the game, given his history of hamstring injuries and the fact that Richmond were well behind.
Cousins insisted that any criticism of the support staff was unjustified.
"I was confident to go back on, I wanted to go back on, because I thought I was in a position to do that," he told Channel Seven.
"I couldn't speak more highly of the way they (the medical staff) have got me from the point I was then to the point I was in round one.
"I couldn't have done anything more to be prepared.
"I am 30, I've had 18 months out of the game, I was going to cop some sort of injury at some point, you would think."
Cousins said he had experienced tightness behind the knee before in his career and said it was only a "niggling" problem.
"With the work I'd done with the medicos, I was 100 per cent confident - and still am - that's what it was," he said.
Cousins is encouraged by the diagnosis and the Tigers say he should be back in three to four weeks.
"It doesn't have to keep me out of the game for six weeks," he said.
But fellow Brownlow Medallist Nathan Buckley, who interviewed Cousins, is not so sure.
Buckley had well-documented hamstring trouble towards the end of his career and he thinks Cousins might have to sit out more than a month.
He added Cousins would probably have to resume in the VFL with the Tigers' affiliate Coburg.
"I'd suspect they might be even more cautious than that (four weeks)," Buckley said.
"The only issue is what's best for Ben Cousins and his football ... I reckon he would have to (play in the VFL)."
Buckley said Cousins seemed very realistic and optimistic about this latest setback to his career.
"He is a very focussed individual, he's a very professional footballer, he does everything - dots the Is and crosses the Ts," Buckley said.
Cousins described the injury as a minor hiccup, but admitted he felt shattered and angry, particularly because it was another hamstring injury.
"Footy is the easy bit - this hamstring, although it's going to be hard to deal with in some respects, it's the easy bit (compared) to where I've come from," he said of his drug addiction.
"God works in mysterious ways and things have a funny way of working out.
"This could be a blessing in disguise, for me and for Richmond - we've got that out of the way now.
"We have a lot of work to do, it was a huge reality check, in my mind we're a lot better side than that."
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/afl/news/article/-/5462632/cousins-backs-richmond-medical-staff
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A pretty strong defence of our club medicos by Ben. He's taken the full wrap himself for what happened.
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A pretty strong defence of our club medicos by Ben. He's taken the full wrap himself for what happened.
Actually been pretty impressed with Benny's 2 recent TV interviews... The Ch10 one and now game day...
Pretty clear he wants to repay the RFC for taking a chance on him
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At the risk of sounding cynical, he could hardly say otherwise.
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At the risk of sounding cynical, he could hardly say otherwise.
Exactly.
If it's not the medicos call, then quite simply it's not the medicos call.
As usual everyone wants to point the finger at someone else.
We selected him as last player in the draft for nix.
Everyone knew his hamstrings were in question.
That they have not stood up should surprise no one.
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I hope by round 12 Cogs, Cuz, Cotchin, Connors are all in the side ..
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Cousins injury recovery on track
Samantha Lane | April 1, 2009
BEN Cousins walked and jogged laps of Punt Road oval yesterday. Next week Richmond hopes he will run. Within four weeks the Tigers hope he will play.
The 2005 Brownlow medallist has never been your average footballer, nor does he lead the average footballer's life, but when it comes to recovering from hamstring injuries Cousins' experience will be as mundane as the next bloke's.
"I would anticipate, and I'm always careful with these sort of things because it depends on what the doctors and physios want to do with him, but I think, based on what they've said, we'd expect to see him running this time next week," Tigers football operations manager Ross Monaghan said yesterday.
"Today was a walk-jog. He walk-jogged about four or five laps and that's sort of the start of it."
Behind the scenes, the angst Cousins has caused by his recent media dealings is yet to be formally addressed by club and player, but Richmond has decided a strategic meeting is needed between Cousins and his manager Ricky Nixon.
Tigers general manager of football Craig Cameron said yesterday he would not comment on what he described as an "internal" issue.
Club president Gary March gave the matter oxygen when he told a weekend radio program that the club was "disappointed" Cousins had failed to get absolute approval from his chief employer before agreeing to write newspaper columns.
It contravened the law of the land at every AFL side nowadays that such commitments require club sign-off.
Some at Richmond are also uneasy about the perception that the former Eagle will only agree to media appearances for money and the example that sets for the side's younger players.
After pulling out of a commitment to Channel Nine's The Footy Show before the season — something he was to be paid for — Cousins then protested about an unpaid interview he did with Channel 10 as part of its coverage of the Richmond v Carlton season opener.
Last Sunday, Cousins accepted a fee to appear on a Channel Seven football panel show.
While Nixon yesterday denied there was any need for a meeting between he, Cousins and the club, Richmond — which believes that the most attention-grabbing elements of Cousins' comeback are over — wants to address formally the player's longer-term plans and explain its disappointment in some of his recent actions.
The Tigers also intend to discuss which of Cousins' numerous advisors they believe he should listen to.
Though Richmond management will not force Cousins to withdraw from his commitment to write eight columns for News Limited this season — for which it is understood he is to be paid $4000 an instalment — it will stress that the club must give clear approval for any future media deals.
Even Nixon says he still does not know what the terms of Cousins' newspaper agreement are because it was reached with the assistance of Gerard Healy — one of Cousins' confidants — rather than his management, Flying Start.
Meanwhile, Cousins' documentary remains in the editing process, but it is believed a short sample of potential content has recently been sent around to prospective buyers. Richmond has stipulated it wants to see the finished product — expected within six weeks — before it is sold.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/cousins-injury-recovery-on-track/2009/03/31/1238261580140.html
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Aker talks about how he did his hammy in only his second game after crossing to the Bulldogs.
Ben Cousins has been under pressure.
Watching him the past few months, I've found myself reflecting on my own move, from Brisbane to the Western Bulldogs, and when I played my first few games for my new club in 2007.
I felt for Cousins as his hamstring pinged - I remember the exact thing happening to me in my second game for the Dogs. In the third quarter, I bent down to pick up a fast-moving ball and, bang, my hammy went in two spots.
I had done the pre-season work, more than likely too much work. I missed two weeks, but it took me another three weeks to get my confidence back.
By then, the pressure had mounted in my own mind, as it had with the media and fans - yet one more thing with which Cousins must contend.
Full article at:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25271641-19742,00.html