Cousins now a national obsession, say Tigers TIM CLARKE
March 23, 2010 The interest in Ben Cousins has become an Australian obsession of hysterical proportions, according to Richmond CEO Brendon Gale.
But the Tigers boss has admitted the ex-Eagles captain has struggled to cope with his tumultuous past while preparing for the new season.
As Cousins attempts to improve his fitness in time for the Tigers' AFL curtain-raiser against Carlton on Thursday, Gale again denied the club has recently addressed the Brownlow medallist about his drinking.
But the former AFLPA boss did hint Cousins had been spoken to by ex-Richmond people about his habits while revealing he was also confronted about a lack of effort in training before Christmas after a speed bump in his ongoing rehabilitation from drug addiction.
"In my time, no (he has not been warned)," Gale said.
"None of the senior management or senior coaches have sat down and warned Ben about his habits and drinking. If you want to talk about former employees in the last 12 months, that is different.
"All I can say is Ben is one player in our team an important player but he has ticked all the boxes with the new coach since I have been there.
"His preparation has been outstanding post-Christmas. Pre-Christmas he had some thumb surgery, and he had a little personal issue.
"He took his eye off the ball for a week or two when the magnitude of the previous years began to affect him.
"That affected his application on the track, the coaches saw a lack of effort, a lack of intensity on the track and that was addressed.
"Since then he has been outstanding, he has not put a foot wrong."
Cousins has been hospitalised twice in recent weeks for a mystery stomach ailment that reportedly caused him severe pain, and cranked up the rumour mill in Perth and Melbourne.
Gale said the focus on the former Eagle had become incessant.
"Clearly outside the club there is an obsession with Ben, and it is an obsession. We understand hat it commands a lot of public interest," Gale told the Nine Network.
"But from our point of view he has taken no more management than any other player.
"The last couple of weeks, given there have been a couple of visits to hospital, it has taken a bit more management.
"But the rumour and innuendo has reached hysterical proportions."
Apparently that rumour speculated Cousins had fled the country on Monday, which Gale said prompted a flood of calls to the club.
"The latest one going around is that Ben has flown the coop, he has jumped on a jumbo and gone overseas. The rumour went around all day and we put up with this day in, day out," Gale said.
But the Tigers supremo insisted that Cousins was still not taking up too much of the club's focus, saying he had still brought more positives than negatives since his acquisition last year.
"From my point of view, Ben has been terrific and I have really enjoyed watching the practice matches when he is not playing with his instruction, talking them through," Gale said.
"I think he has been impressive, he has got a huge role to play and I think he can bring an enormous amount to Richmond in that department."
http://www.watoday.com.au/afl/afl-news/cousins-now-a-national-obsession-say-tigers-20100323-qrig.html
