Patrick Smith has been fairly positive about us recently....Side effects leave us all needing a lie down Patrick Smith
The Australian
July 07, 2010IT was as Richmond said it was. No more, no less. Alcohol was not an issue nor illegal drugs. Ben Cousins had a strong and unexpected reaction to prescribed sleeping tablets that shirt-fronted his system. After a night in hospital the Brownlow medallist returned home yesterday.
Immediately he let club officials know that he wanted to play against Fremantle on Saturday night. He is thrilling in the contest as the Tigers rebuild the club's standing in a competition they last dominated 30 years ago. After a hesitant start to the season under new coach Damien Hardwick the club is winning again.
On Sunday, the Tigers hauled in Sydney for an invigorating win. Four out of five ain't bad.
It remains problematical whether Cousins will play against the Dockers. He was, after all, asleep on the job. He missed Monday's vital rehab session then yesterday's full training run. He is 32 and the club has just a six-day break before Saturday's match. Underprepared, Cousins might do himself more harm than the club good. His willingness to play is understandable. His game against Sydney was another in a string of performances where he played influential roles in the Tigers' wins. It might also be that he is more than a little upset that so many people thought the worst when news broke that he was in hospital. Last night, he asked to be drug-tested by AFL club doctors. He is proud but not complacent of his fight to remain clean of his drug-doped past.
The media coverage overall was a little too frenetic. Richmond told the media every detail of the Cousins episode. Everything the club knew, the public knew too. But the news stories and commentaries seemed determined to read much more into what the club reported. Yes, it was a big story because of who it was - Cousins, recovering drug addict - but one that never got close to a scandal. It appeared to leave the media disappointed.
Cousins was written off, his career said to have ended in the intensive care ward. A premature observation, bordering on the hysterical.
Not only is Cousins lobbying to play this weekend, he wants to play on again next season. That will be determined at the end of the season, though the club is open to Cousins swooping through the mid-field in 2011.
Football is both a sanctuary and a discipline that is important to Cousins. It gives structure to his life and an outlet for his personality. But ultimately Richmond must figure out what is right for the club before considering what is best for the footballer. While they are hardly mutually exclusive, there are issues that must be considered carefully.
Cousins will be 33 in a season where the number of interchange rotations may well be shrunk. If the AFL adopts the reduction then Cousins' workload will increase. Presumably then the club would need to be sure that Cousins would see the season out if injury or poor form became an issue. With few draft chances becoming available as the Gold Coast and west Sydney are spoon-fed talent over the next two years no opportunity to grab a likely prospect can be put in jeopardy.
And the nature of the man and his relationship with the media means he can cause a distraction that is out of all proportion to what might have happened. According to the media nothing minor happens to Cousins. Just major headlines. But the club knows Cousins remains important in the education of the young mid-field it's building. And his importance on the field is undeniable. No one can quite get the traffic moving as efficiently as Cousins. If he has the ball then invariably a teammate gets it next.
The Cousins experience points to a practice the AFL might consider investigating, though the AFL's medical officers appear to condone the practice. It has become apparent that not only do AFL players take caffeine tablets to stimulate them before games but they take sleeping tablets and sedatives to wind down afterwards. Nothing about this is illegal nor would it seem particularly dangerous, notwithstanding Cousins' night in hospital.
It is likely that nearly all AFL players - let's say 600 take caffeine before the game and probably half of them look for some legal drug to bring them down after matches. It appears to have been a widespread practice for many seasons but Cousins is the only casualty. It might be widespread but it is hardly a widespread problem.
Maybe we should all take a tablet and have a good lie down. Everybody else does.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/side-effects-leave-us-all-needing-a-lie-down/story-e6frg7mf-1225888705718
