AFL chief Andrew Demetriou's secret Ben Cousins deal
Stephen Rielly | December 17, 2008 | The Australian
IF people are wondering why Richmond went back on its word not to recruit Ben Cousins, the answer might lie with a discussion almost two weeks ago between Tigers president Gary March and AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou.
According to several people close to the negotiations that ultimately brought Cousins and Richmond together yesterday, it was in the course of their exchange that the idea of the fallen Brownlow medallist wearing yellow and black in 2009 took root.
Had Brisbane not beaten Richmond to young Tasmanian ruckman, Bart McCulloch, with its final selection in last month's national draft, the Tigers would not even have had a selection to invest in Cousins.
Whether March listened to Demetriou outline the idea of creating an opening on the club's senior list for Cousins by transferring the injured Graham Polak to the Richmond rookie list, or put the idea forward himself, is unclear.
March would not comment last night and Demetriou was unavailable.
An AFL spokesman said: "The AFL received a submission from the Richmond football club asking for Graham Polak to be placed on the rookie list. That submission was put before the AFL commission which ruled on it and refused the club's application. Richmond football club took the decision to select Ben Cousins with their selection in the NAB AFL pre-season draft."
What is clear, however, is that almost from the moment the pair broke off talks, Richmond began to seriously explore the Cousins option and did so in the belief it was not working alone or, at least, without encouragement.
Some at Richmond, at board level, proceeded on an understanding there was actual AFL support to count on.
Only days later, AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson met with the Tigers.
March and his board met last Tuesday and the Polak plan was lodged with the AFL the next day. A day later, Richmond football operations manager Craig Cameron met Cousins for six hours.
One source said yesterday the pace, excitement and, most significantly, the expectation building around project Cousins escalated from an assumption the March Demetriou discussion was held against a background of wider league-level enthusiasm for it.
Certainly, some on Demetriou's executive team were so confident about a safe passage for the idea that as late as last Saturday night, at a private party, it was described by one member of the team as a "done deal".
The confidence born of this belief is why, for instance, March made what now looks like a foolish and misleading declaration to the effect that the Tigers would, under no circumstances, select Cousins if the club was not granted a second pre-season draft pick for Polak that was to be used on the ex-Eagle.
Late on Monday night, of course, after being tripped up by the commission's decision to reject the Polak plan, it decided to do exactly that.
But Richmond, as coach Terry Wallace admitted yesterday, was so confident of getting the deal through and that the club had the league's blessing for the idea, it did not have a fall-back position at the ready. Other than the hurried decision to take Cousins anyway which was made about 12-hours before the draft.
"On Monday, the footy division was genuinely shocked by the commission's decision, albeit we abide by that decision without any problems. We genuinely thought we had a case and we genuinely thought we would get up on that case," Wallace said.
"Rightly or wrongly, we hadn't really factored in the decision going the other way at that point in time."
And so Richmond, with the idea of a second pick for Polak rejected and the club deciding it had come too far not to take Cousins, had been left with another: that perhaps the biggest mistake it made amid a sequence of denials and statements of qualified interest was to either misinterpret or believe Demetriou's contact to be a sign of official endorsement.
It clearly wasn't and if Demetriou intended it to be, it is reasonable to assume that he also got an unexpected surprise on Monday.
In any case Richmond and Cousins are now one, brought together in circumstances neither envisaged. The 30-year-old, who lost his career with the Eagles and his right to even play this year after falling to an addiction to illicit drugs, flew into Melbourne last night and will train at Punt Road for the first time this morning.
His father, Bryan, said that it was an incredible relief to know that his son would play again and that the ordeal of being considered by at least four other clubs and overlooked by them all had been a test in itself.
"It was a great feeling," Bryan Cousins said when the news became official yesterday. "He had set his sights on getting back and playing footy. He did get the door slammed in his face a lot of times and it tested his resolve, but he handled it far better than I could ever have expected."
Wallace said it was a combination of feverish supporter anticipation, player and coterie support, the knowledge that any young player chosen in Cousins' place would have played under a heavy burden, not to mention his on-field potential, that carried the vote on Monday night. There was also the matter of Cousins' personal cause and the assistance to his recovery that playing again is expected to offer. Wallace described what he called a "humanitarian reason" to select Cousins, even weighted against many and varied risks, as significant in Richmond's decision.
"We have a responsibility to ensure all work can be done to possibly assist him, both on and off the field and we will do everything in our powers," Wallace said.
"There is a humanitarian side to this as well, whether people want to take that on board or not. We are great believers in people getting second opportunities and we have sat down with him on a couple of occasions and spoken to him about that.
"It will be a wonderful story if he can get it together and get it right and he now has that opportunity."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24811926-2722,00.html
