Cuz on The Couch tonight

[Mr Magic]

When Cuz isn't tested 3 times a week, that will be his greatest test.

[Ramps]

When Cuz isn't tested 3 times a week, that will be his greatest test.

Id expect that upon his retirement as a player he will get a job as an assistant coach to Hardwick as part of that contract there should be some testing, not for us as a club but for him to be able to keep his life on track. Cousins is a future AFL coach at some point- if he keeps himself clean!

[Smokey]

At some point he has to take the crutch away and 'walk' unaided, he can't keep allowing the 3 tests a week to control his thoughts and actions.  If he is to ever get his life "back on track" then the discipline and desire must be driven and managed from within - can't happen any other way.  Working within the greater footballing environment/community will help in some way but might also hinder with temptation and status.  I hope for his sake that he is getting and continues to get the best possible support and guidance from those that matter most to him - family, friends and medical professionals - that's where his best chance of long term success lies.

[one-eyed]

Kennett appalled by Cousins interview
SCOTT SPITS
May 14, 2010

JEFF Kennett has come out swinging in the wake of Ben Cousins' expansive interview about his battle with drug addiction, calling on the media to stop hounding the Brownlow medallist.

The Hawthorn president, a former chairman of depression support group beyondblue, said that after watching the Cousins interview on Foxtel's On The Couch, for the first time he wanted the West Coast premiership player ''to succeed more than anything else''.

''I feel very, very sorry for Ben Cousins. I don't know him, I've nodded at him a couple of times when I passed him in the street,'' Kennett told 3AW yesterday.

Cousins, who was banned by the AFL for 12 months before he was given a second chance by Richmond, was interviewed at length on Tuesday night by Gerard Healy, Mike Sheahan and James Hird.

''I have never witnessed, I think, a more appalling interview in my life. I don't say that lightly because I've seen many,'' Kennett said.

''No doubt Ben agreed to be there but the three interviewers just continually went on about his past, etc, etc.

''You know when you get to the point where you see someone interviewing someone and you think 'enough's enough' … you think 'move on, be positive' there was another question … by three gentlemen who'd obviously never experienced what Ben Cousins has been through.''

Kennett warned about the mental risks for people seeking to beat drug addiction.

''You've got to come to a point where you say 'a person is ill and they're entitled to go about their rehabilitation without being hounded'.''

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/kennett-appalled-by-cousins-interview-20100513-v1ot.html

[Smokey]

''I have never witnessed, I think, a more appalling interview in my life. I don't say that lightly because I've seen many,'' Kennett said.

''No doubt Ben agreed to be there but the three interviewers just continually went on about his past, etc, etc.

''You know when you get to the point where you see someone interviewing someone and you think 'enough's enough' … you think 'move on, be positive' there was another question … by three gentlemen who'd obviously never experienced what Ben Cousins has been through.''

Finally, someone called it as I saw it.  A disgraceful effort of interviewing that was hell bent on uncovering dirt or tripping Cousins up.  Thankfully, Cousins had the dignity, courage and intelligence to deal with it at a much more professional level than Sheahan or Healy.   

And just another example of accurate journalism by our sports media.  James Hird?  Did this tosspot even watch the interview? 

[Penelope]

wow. Deep down inside, Kennett just may have a a little streak of morality buried after all.

[Owl]

wow. Deep down inside, Kennett just may have a a little streak of morality buried after all.

Loath to say it but, I agreed with him for once.  Sorry Kennett lovers but I only ever saw him pour scorn and contempt on people in the past lol.

[tiger till i die]

Kennett appalled by Cousins interview
SCOTT SPITS
May 14, 2010

JEFF Kennett has come out swinging in the wake of Ben Cousins' expansive interview about his battle with drug addiction, calling on the media to stop hounding the Brownlow medallist.

The Hawthorn president, a former chairman of depression support group beyondblue, said that after watching the Cousins interview on Foxtel's On The Couch, for the first time he wanted the West Coast premiership player ''to succeed more than anything else''.

''I feel very, very sorry for Ben Cousins. I don't know him, I've nodded at him a couple of times when I passed him in the street,'' Kennett told 3AW yesterday.

Cousins, who was banned by the AFL for 12 months before he was given a second chance by Richmond, was interviewed at length on Tuesday night by Gerard Healy, Mike Sheahan and James Hird.

''I have never witnessed, I think, a more appalling interview in my life. I don't say that lightly because I've seen many,'' Kennett said.

''No doubt Ben agreed to be there but the three interviewers just continually went on about his past, etc, etc.

''You know when you get to the point where you see someone interviewing someone and you think 'enough's enough' … you think 'move on, be positive' there was another question … by three gentlemen who'd obviously never experienced what Ben Cousins has been through.''

Kennett warned about the mental risks for people seeking to beat drug addiction.

''You've got to come to a point where you say 'a person is ill and they're entitled to go about their rehabilitation without being hounded'.''

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/kennett-appalled-by-cousins-interview-20100513-v1ot.html

Hopefully the on the couch douche bags read this

[Ox]

wow. Deep down inside, Kennett just may have a a little streak of morality buried after all.

Nah...just loves coke

[one-eyed]

Much to learn from Cousins' confessions
TIM LANE
May 16, 2010
 
Troubled star can help refine AFL's illicit drugs policy

JEFF Kennett may have thought the interrogation extreme, but the Ben Cousins interview on Fox Sports' On the Couch during the week served an important purpose. It revealed an affable and apparently decent person willingly facing the hard questions. This was important because the stigmatisation associated with drug users is such as to forever cast a shadow, in the view of some, over their acceptability as human beings.

The appearance of a fit athlete with a drug problem, confronting the matter before the public, is a small step towards opening minds.

While Kennett's point has validity in that a person in circumstances known to be fragile might reasonably be afforded sensitive treatment, it's naive to imagine that Cousins would have entered the studio expecting other than exhaustive questioning. Having chosen to appear, and knowing only too well the media interest in his story, he knew what to expect.

That Cousins took on what would come his way is to his credit. Perhaps even some of those who disbelieve the sincerity of his efforts at rehabilitation, and towards the betterment of the Richmond Football Club, would be moved to reconsider. His expression of something verging on fatherly concern over alcohol-troubled Daniel Connors was particularly affirming of his engagement with those around him.

Coincidentally, the interview with Cousins occurred in the same week as the AFL's release of the latest round of its illicit drug policy figures. Such a juxtaposition of events shone a light on the one important line of questions missing from Tuesday night's interview.

I should stress this isn't intended as criticism of Gerard Healy, Mike Sheahan, and Brian Taylor, as I know well the ''damn it, I should have asked the one about …'' feeling at the end of an interview. It would have been good, though, were answers extracted from the following:

Did Cousins return positive tests under the illicit drug code? How did a targeted system fail to produce three strikes from an athlete whose life over an extended period involved a drug habit? Does Cousins know of methods that enable players to avoid detection by the illicit drug testing program? Does he know whether the use of some drugs, more than others, is easier to hide from testers? Does he believe the testing system and its results are a reliable guide to the totality of illicit drug use among footballers?

Kennett wouldn't have liked it, but if the game is to run a controversial testing program for illicit drugs, these are questions the football community, through the media, is entitled to ask. Cousins is better placed than most to give answers.

Of course, we've known for decades that the testing for performance-enhancing drugs has been a hit-and-miss business. Ben Johnson was caught in Seoul, but it's generally accepted the 1988 Olympic Games were riddled with drug cheating. Johnson was just the unlucky big fish to have been fingered.

Still, it's better for the clean athletes that even one cheat is weeded out as, mathematically, every reduction in the number of frauds gives the rest something closer to a fair deal. The use of performance-enhancing drugs is about distortion of the competitive balance.

The AFL's illicit drug testing program is different; it's about behaviour. It came into effect only because the players, through the AFL Players Association, assented to it. Not all players agreed with that decision, yet the reluctant ones are subject to the same invasion of privacy as those who support the program. This makes it incumbent upon the AFL and the AFLPA to be able to demonstrate to the entire playing group that their system is capable of exposing equally all who are subjected to it.

The World Anti-Doping Agency code for performance-enhancing drug testing has been established, reviewed, and revised over many years. It seeks, in an ever more vigilant way, to address the multitude of possibilities involved in testing for performance-enhancing drugs and masking agents.

The AFL's illicit drug program is run by a private operator rather than by the experts in the field, the national sports drug testing agency. This raises significant questions such as: What does the AFL and its testing agency know of masking agents for illicit drugs? How much specific research has been conducted into this? Does Dorevitch Pathology (which conducts the AFL's illicit drug testing) test for any such substances? If a masking agent isn't banned under the illicit drug code, would its presence be detected anyway? Are there other ways around testing for illicit drugs? Are Dorevitch's testers as competent as the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority at ensuring athletes can't tamper with samples as has happened in other sporting environments?

If every player in the AFL is to be subjected to illicit drug testing, those who impose it have an obligation to ensure a process capable of dealing equally with all.

That Cousins avoided three strikes when his drug usage was out of control suggests an imperfect system. This could be seen as a third strike against the AFL's drug testing program: it is invasive, it was imposed without a player plebiscite, and there are doubts about its capacity to ensure equal justice for all.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/much-to-learn-from-cousins-confessions-20100515-v5kt.html

[one-eyed]

Daniel Kerr: Ben Cousions 'looks good'
Jackie Epstein
Sunday Herald Sun
May 15, 2010 9:46PM

INJURED West Coast star Daniel Kerr says former teammate Ben Cousins is still capable of playing his best football.

Kerr was impressed by Cousins during an interview on Fox Sport's On the Couch last week.

"I haven't spoken to Ben for a while, but that's the best I've seen Ben look," he said on Triple M.

"And that's the best I've seen Ben speak and the most open I've seen Ben.

"So it looks like everything is on track for him and I agree with what he said with his football.

"I think he'll come out and show what he can really do in the second half of the year.

"I think definitely he's through the worst. I don't think it could have got any worse at one stage. He's looking a lot better and I think that will start showing out in his football."

Eagles CEO Trevor Nisbett said he was also encouraged after seeing Cousins's appearance.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/daniel-kerr-ben-cousions-looks-good/story-e6frf9jf-1225867236578

[Infamy]

Unless the AFL move towards blood or hair samples, then there is no way they will catch more players out. The question is, do they really want to find them?

The fact that regular marijuana use lasts for a long time in your system is why no player can afford to take it, hence no one being caught for it this year. Stimulants such as speed, cocaine & ecstacy are undetectable in urine about 48 hours after taking them. So if a player goes out Friday night, by Monday morning, its gone.

When a player is guaranteed to only be tested once a year, what are the chances of finding them positive when the window is 48 hours our of 8765 in a year, then you'd be the unluckiest bloke in the world do get done.

Other tests can test for chemicals in the body which are created to help break down the drugs in the body and these can last in the system a lot longer than 48 hours, however you're still only talking a couple of days.

If the AFL moves to hair testing, then I think there may be a sudden outbreak of Alopecia Universalis within the competition.

[Owl]

you seen the Geelong list these days lol