I want to play: Cousins
Wednesday Nov 14 18:00 AEDT
Troubled former West Coast Eagles captain Ben Cousins has broken his silence — and confirmed he wants to play again next season.
Speaking exclusively to Damian Ryan from National Nine News for the first time since arriving back from Los Angeles, Cousins said he was relieved to have the remaining charge against him dropped by WA police.
"Oh yeah mate, (I'm) delighted, just looking forward to moving forward, we've got the case on Monday," he said.
The case Cousins is referring to is the AFL Commission hearing into whether the wayward star — who was hospitalised during his time in the US — has brought the game into disrepute.
When asked by Ryan whether he thought the dropping of charges by WA police helped his cause, Cousins replied: "Ah, well, I don't think it can hurt."
Cousins confirmed he "absolutely" wanted to play on next season but whether he will be allowed to nominate for the pre-season draft in December may well hinge on the outcome of the Commission hearing.
"There's a fair bit of water to come under the bridge before I'm allowed to play, so we'll just get that out of the way," he said.
Cousins has been a frequent visitor to the shopping strip of Manly: the rugby league culture of the surfside Sydney suburb affords the 2005 Brownlow medallist a degree of anonimity.
It's believed he is undergoing treatment for drug rehabilitation at a Sydney clinic.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=322977
