Channel Seven to air Ben Cousins documentary - Aug 25-26

[Judge Roughneck]

Must look at cousins as a running / midfield coach.

If he gets in the gear again find a new coach no big deal

[mightytiges]

You've got to feel for his family. They copped the brunt of it watching Ben's life spiral ever so faster downwards in front of their eyes. The vision of Cuz standing in a room at the family Christmas party shaking and shivering was pretty intense. There'll be some people in the media tomorrow claiming it glamourised drug use in parts smoking bongs and talk or 5-day benders and wild parties but I think that's the whole point. It starts of as a bit of "fun" and junkies think they have it all under control before the proverbial hits the fan and it all catches up with them. Ben's been one of the lucky ones. It could have easily been him dead like his best mate. The Eagles just ignored the problem and tried to stage manage it with forced public apology after forced public apology looking from the outside. Ben was telling Eagle teammates not to train so hard because it made him look bad. Any club and coaches would normally go off their rocker hearing that from any player let alone ones of their star players.

[TigerLand]

I personally was expecting something more raw. Would have liked to see an unedited version.

Just shows how soft society is, should have been thrown the full raw doco in my opinion. To many interviews and not enough vision of the highs and lows.

Would have liked to have seen how hard Ben found it to kick his addiction rather than just how hard it was to deal with a public life during an addiction.

Looking forward to part 2.

Amazingly ballsy from Cousins to have this vision publically shown. Hats off.

Hopefully society can get their heads out of the sand and realise the problem of the illicit drug industry.

[gerkin greg]

I'm not going to tee off on the Eagles, this doco certainly doesn't tell the whole story or timeline. Impressive first episode, the harder stuff is yet to come.

[TigerLand]

You've got to feel for his family. They copped the brunt of it watching Ben's life spiral ever so faster downwards in front of their eyes. The vision of Cuz standing in a room at the family Christmas party shaking and shivering was pretty intense. There'll be some people in the media tomorrow claiming it glamourised drug use in parts smoking bongs and talk or 5-day benders and wild parties but I think that's the whole point. It starts of as a bit of "fun" and junkies think they have it all under control before the proverbial hits the fan and it all catches up with them. Ben's been one of the lucky ones. It could have easily been him dead like his best mate. The Eagles just ignored the problem and tried to stage manage it with forced public apology after forced public apology looking from the outside. Ben was telling Eagle teammates not to train so hard because it made him look bad. Any club and coaches would normally go off their rocker hearing that from any player let alone ones of their star players.

Yeah good call MT.

I dunno how many on here are between the age of 18-30 but as a Gen Y I can say first hand probably 60% of my mates at school had tried party or illicit drugs by the age of 19-20. The use of drugs at 17 was sad to hear, but believable.

I think the WCE managed this horribly. I don't know how they should have handled it but they just continually swept it under the carpet. They brought him up as there poster boy that was almost spoilt and could do no wrong. He had every right to feel bullet proof. It was a rockstar life. As he said, girls, money footy it was the ideal life. He was probably bullet proof for a while, but I blame West Coast and I reckon his old man does too.

You also remember how badly his image was tainted back a few years ago. He was the biggest villain in the world when he was interviewed on the Footy Show about returning to footy. Just staggers me, sure the guy has a serious problem but with Newton and Lovett issues lasting a few days at best in the papers Cousins was never ending. It was a circus.

[TigerLand]

I'm not going to tee off on the Eagles, this doco certainly doesn't tell the whole story or timeline. Impressive first episode, the harder stuff is yet to come.

Tee off at the Eagles GG they are the pits.

I thought the doco was very soft, other than a couple of F Bombs and a few drug taking references I'm staggered some officials have warned parents about showing this to there kids.. I think its been heavily heavily edited. I noticed the point in where is touched on Ben missing a drug test at the Eagles and then moved on quickly to the next subject. *AFL edited*

[Infamy]

I dunno how many on here are between the age of 18-30 but as a Gen Y I can say first hand probably 60% of my mates at school had tried party or illicit drugs by the age of 19-20. The use of drugs at 17 was sad to hear, but believable.

More adults between 17 & 39 years of age admit to taking recreational drugs than are smokers, substantially more
Last figures I've seen were 31% for recreational drug use and 19% for tobacco

[gerkin greg]

It's not about blame Popelord. I'd also like to see the second half before getting too into the dissection.

[FNM]

His life was bad.
Just goes to show the incredible effort and intestinal fortitude it took to turn it all around
There, but for the grace of God go I
Good luck, Ben.  Looking forward to your last game, champ!  

[mightytiges]

I dunno how many on here are between the age of 18-30 but as a Gen Y I can say first hand probably 60% of my mates at school had tried party or illicit drugs by the age of 19-20. The use of drugs at 17 was sad to hear, but believable.

I would say the number of late teens who have tried some form of illicit drug hasn't changed that much from Gen X. I remember going to house parties in my Melb Uni student days (early 1990s) where a bedroom would be set aside for group pot smoking or a student mate of mine buying some cannabis in Canberra where it's decriminalised at the ANU student bar for $50 and spending the whole night outside letting off fireworks (also legal) while stoned. Herion, cocaine, crack cocaine, speed were also still all around back then. What seems to have changed is the type of drugs used and the heavy mixing of different drugs and alcohol. It seems a lot of harder drugs now are hardcore chemical cocktails and are used just to get wasted as fast as possible. Scary stuff  .

[Infamy]

It seems a lot of harder drugs now are hardcore chemical cocktails and are used just to get wasted as fast as possible. Scary stuff  .

A lot of the harder drugs around now are cheap substitutes that people take as the regular party drugs of the past have become low quality due to crack downs by police.

[one-eyed]

Cousins' leading concern
Jesse Hogan
August 26, 2010
 
BEN Cousins' family says the decision of former club West Coast to appoint him captain, against their advice, accelerated his descent into drug addiction.

Cousins, in part one of his Such Is Life documentary that aired last night on Channel Seven, revealed his ability to regularly take ''recreational'' drugs and remain one of the AFL's elite players ''reinforced to me I had a method that was working''.

Bryan Cousins said he unsuccessfully lobbied West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett to prevent his son's appointment, at 23, as club captain in 2002.

''I could just see his attitude to life changing … when he could see himself bulletproof,'' Bryan Cousins said.

Cousins, a regular drug-user since his late teens, said he considered the use of cocaine, ice and also certain prescription drugs as ''the ultimate reward'' for his relentless dedication to training and playing for the Eagles, and that he motivated himself with the realisation he was ''going to absolutely annihilate myself and launch into as many drugs as I could''.

''They expect you to behave like a priest all week and play like a devil on the weekend,'' he said.

The retiring 32-year-old was regularly depicted inhaling from a drug pipe, filmed during his suspension from the AFL in 2008. He was also shown twitching and staring blankly during an apparent drug binge, and in one scene looks unrecognisably pale and clammy in a meeting with then manager Ricky Nixon.

Cousins also confirmed that he had been drinking for 10-12 hours when he infamously fled from a booze bus in Perth in 2006.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/cousins-leading-concern-20100825-13sbd.html

[one-eyed]

Ben Cousins' woes laid bare in documentary Such Is Life
Aaron Langmaid
Herald Sun
August 25, 2010 9:18PM


FOOTAGE of a partying Ben Cousins smoking amphetamines in a crack pipe and details about his spectacular fall from grace have finally been revealed in a confronting television documentary.

Such is Life - The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins hooked thousands of viewers across Australia last night with a candid and sometimes uncomfortable insight into the drug addiction that took control of one of the AFL's biggest stars.

Cousins said he hoped his story  would ultimately help save lives.

How did you rate the first half of Ben Cousins' documentary? Have your say below

 Alarming images of the footballer smoking drugs were shown just two minutes into the program as Cousins confessed to being a regular social drug user from age 17.

And cocaine was his drug of choice.

 The intimate account also revealed Cousins:

SWAM halfway across a river the night he fled the scene of a booze bus in 2006;

DIDN'T think he was an addict when he was first sent to Los Angeles for rehabilitation;

WENT on a five-day bender after the overdose death of former West Coast player Chris Mainwaring;

TREATED drugs as a reward at the end of hard games; had

NEVER taken performing enhancing drugs to play better; and  believes he was

SETUP by police after his shirtless arrest in Perth in 2007.

``There would be a time and a place for speed, there would be a time and a place for ecstasy, cocaine was my drug of choice, no question, but Valium played a huge part in that and Xanax played a huge part in that,'' Cousin said.

``I wouldn't have butter on my toast, let alone have a beer (but) I would take drugs.

``I would train and f---ing train and obsess and play good footy and the thing that would get me through those tough moments, those tough days, ... was I knew at the end ... I was going to absolutely annihilate and launch into as much drugs as I could.''

Cousins said he was an ``extremist'' and possessed the ability to  focus on what he wanted.

``The unique thing about my situation was that I was applying that same obsession to football as I was with drugs.

``I loved to train, I loved everything about preparing to play footy.''

 At the height of his success in Perth, his dad Bryan said  he became concerned his son had been ``built up'' too much and pleaded with West Coast Eagles bosses not to make him captain of the team. But his request was ignored.

 But it was the Eagle's defeat at the 2005 grand final that Cousins said marked the beginning of downhill spiral.

 The night he fled the booze bus, Cousins said he ``wasn't messing around''.

``I couldn't tell you how many houses I jumped through. I was jumping over back fences, I was on top of roofs and I took off across the river.

And he said he had struggled to come to terms with Chris Mainwaring's death because he was the last person to see him alive.

`` I have my own opinion on what happened ... I left him in a good state,'' Cousins said. ``I had no immediate concern for his well being and I think (his death) was a tragic accident.''

Questions were also raised over the legitimacy of Cousins' shirtless arrest in Perth that led to him being sacked by the Eagles.

Former manager Ricky Nixon, questioned how a television network would have been able to capture the moment he was caught, without being tipped off by police.

But it wasn't until a second bender in the US, having fled the intense media scrutiny in Australia, Nixon said he feared for his clients life

The footballer disappeared after his arriving in Los Angeles and landed in hospital after a drug binge.

``You sit there at times thinking, `I'll get him out of this'... `this will be ok','' Nixon said.

``(But) I went home and thought `my God, he is going to die ... have I done enough? Has his family done enough? Have I let him down?''

The second episode airs on Channel Seven tonight at 8.30pm.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/ben-cousins-woes-laid-bare-in-documentary-such-is-life/story-e6frf96f-1225910107159

[one-eyed]

'Broker' Kevin Sheedy an unlikely saviour for Ben Cousins
Andrew Webster
Herald Sun
August 26, 2010

KEVIN Sheedy says he helped broker the deal that delivered Ben Cousins a second coming because he feared for the fallen superstar's life.
 
 Cousins opens up in the second episode of the controversial documentary about his drug addiction - to be aired on Channel 7 tonight - that Sheedy was crucial in his rebirth as a player.

"It's about saving the life of someone's child," Sheedy said last night.

"When you see Heath Ledger die, and (former AFL star) Chris Mainwaring die, how many more kids do we have to see die when you can find a way for them to get away from the addiction they're in?

"A lot of people see that as soft. I see it as something I grew up with as a person, being a Christian."

Cousins's then manager, Ricky Nixon, phoned Sheedy in desperation when a score of AFL clubs slammed the door on a possible return following the ex-West Coast Eagle's 12-month suspension.

Sheedy engineered negotiations between his former club, Richmond, and its coach, Terry Wallace. Cousins will play his final match before retirement - following two seasons with the Tigers - against Port Adelaide on Sunday.

"He had no chance unless I brokered an opportunity with Richmond and their coach, Terry Wallace," Sheedy said.

"Full marks really go to Richmond, because they reversed their opinion about the issue. When it got down to no choices, we had to seriously look at it as a person's life - not just a game of footy. Some people don't understand the difference."

There have been mixed reactions to the first part of the Cousins documentary.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/broker-kevin-sheedy-an-unlikely-saviour-for-ben-cousins/story-e6frf7l6-1225910130847

[one-eyed]

Cousins 'drug addict' not 'drug cheat'
Courtney Walsh
The Australian
August 26, 2010

BEN Cousins last night denied he was a drug cheat yet conceded he rarely trained or played better than when he used illicit substances.

The revelation, during the first part of the documentary Such Is Life -- The Ben Cousins Story, is intriguing given lingering suspicions as to the integrity of West Coast's 2006 premiership.

It also reveals Cousins' father, Bryan, feared West Coast's decision to award his son the captaincy at 22 would lead to significant personal problems but said the Eagles did not listen to him.

The former West Coast captain was adamant last night he had never used a performance-enhancing substance, or that he had taken cocaine, crystal methamphetamine (ice) or ecstasy either the day before a game or on match days.

"It goes against everything I believe as a sportsman," he said.

Yet Cousins also revealed in the documentary, which concludes on the Seven Network tonight, that his regular and increasing use of hard drugs drove him to train harder and harder.

"I needed to balance that (training) with something that very early on became drugs," he said.

"The unique thing about my situation was that I applied the same (dedication) to football as I did to drugs.

"The longer I did it, the better football I played, the more it reinforced to me that I had a method that was working."

During Cousins' decorated career at West Coast, many marvelled at his ability to run to the point of vomiting and then continue to excel, as Eagles legend Glen Jakovich noted last night.

While many are doubtful of the performance-enhancing benefits of the substances used by Cousins, who describes himself as a highly functioning drug addict, other experts believe they can be useful during training blocks. John Mendoza, the former head of the Australian Sports Drug Agency, told The Australian in 2007 there was no reason, in theory at least, why a footballer's performance, be it in training or during matches, would not be improved during the middle of a four-day ice binge.

"They go on a bender, don't sleep, crash and then three or four days later, start the cycle again," Mendoza said.

"Amphetamine is known to be a performance-enhancing drug both in the sprint context and in cycling. Why would that not translate into enhanced performance for an AFL midfielder who is all over the paddock?"

When Cousins was initially suspended by West Coast, club figures said they had an inkling of the 2005 Brownlow medallist's use of drugs in July 2006.

While Cousins said he began dabbling with drugs as a teenager, his father -- a former champion -- was critical of West Coast's decision to award the star the captaincy at such a young age.

"I was concerned because I could see him being built up and I could see his attitude to life was (that he thought he was) bullet-proof," he said.

While repeated indiscretions cost Cousins the captaincy, it did not stop his focus to claim the 2006 premiership after the "gut wrenching" defeat to Sydney a year earlier.

"Everything I had done in my career was about getting to that moment . . . I thought I was entitled to let my hair down."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/cousins-drug-addict-not-drug-cheat/story-e6frg7mf-1225910117924