BEN COUSINS [merged]

[wayne]

The best of Cuz the Tiger as he prepares to play his 250th match

http://bigpondvideo.com/AFL/198238

Wow impressive.

I hope that hard running rubs off on all our players.

The one against the Dogs, where he burns off Cross and sets up a goal is a ripper.

[intelligent_blonde]

Apparently, Ben Cousins will be on Nova tomorrow morning at the live broadcast from Federation Square.

[one-eyed]

Apparently, Ben Cousins will be on Nova tomorrow morning at the live broadcast from Federation Square.

Cheers for that IB and welcome to OER 

[intelligent_blonde]

No problem. Wish I wasn't working then.

[one-eyed]

Can Cousins reach 300?
Sky News
Updated: 23:15, Wednesday August 5, 2009

As Ben Cousins prepares to play his 250th AFL game - a milestone that appeared out of reach not so long ago - such has been his form and the turnaround in his life this year that the question that now emerges is could the former West Coast Eagles captain go on to play 300 games?

Cousins will bring up the 250-game milestone on Sunday when the Tigers take on Sydney at the MCG in a match in which Michael O'Loughlin will also become the first Swans player to play 300 games.

But with Richmond preparing to offer Cousins a new and much-improved one-year deal for next season, Sunday's 250th game may not be the last milestone the 31-year-old reaches in his career.

Cousins was only picked up by the Tigers - with the last pick of last year's pre-season draft - after being overlooked by every club in the national draft following the 2005 Brownlow Medalist's much-publicised descent into drug addiction which resulted in him being suspended by the AFL for all of 2008.

The Tigers also took a chance on his fragile hamstrings which, despite Cousins breaking down in the opening game of the season against Carlton causing him to miss five matches, have held up well since his return in Round 7.

But it has been in his last six matches, since Jade Rawlings took over as coach from Terry Wallace, that Richmond's gamble on Cousins has really begun to pay off.

In five of the past six games, the four-time West Coast best-and-fairest winner had gathered 27 disposals or more and his form has coincided with a vast improvement in Richmond's fortunes with the club having won three and drawn one of seven games since Rawlings took over.

Certainly Rawlings for one could not be more impressed with Cousins, who was arguably best afield during last Sunday's win over Melbourne.

'He is a seriously good player,' Rawlings said.

'He just plays the way we want our young midfielders to get to with his enormous work rate and he runs himself to exhaustion.'

'He has been in our best in the last three or four weeks so I am pretty happy with him at the moment.'

Richmond skipper Chris Newman also could not be happier with the way the Cousins move to Punt Road has worked out.

'It's been a fresh start for him. I think that he's a great player and a champion of the game and 250 games is a really good achievement,' Newman said.

'His presence in the midfield has really added another dimension to where we want to go to and he really pushes the limits with his physical exertion.'

'I've never seen a player work as hard as him and he's probably on par with Matthew Richardson in that department.'

Such has been the turnaround in Cousins' fortunes that after so much debate at the start of the season as to whether his move to Richmond would prove a success or failure, he is now arguably the safest of the Tigers' five over-30 players on their list in regards to going on next year.

While Richardson is battling injury and Nathan Brown, Troy Simmonds and Joel Bowden all face a tough fight to win new contracts, Cousins is expected to win a more lucrative one-year deal after this year only being offered a minimum base contract of $110,000 due to his past indiscretions.

But given his form and the fact his off-field behaviour has also been exemplary Cousins could earn at least $300,000 next year.

And while he will be contracted on a year-to-year basis from here on - given his age and history - Cousins would only have to play two more full seasons after this year to be on the verge of joining the AFL's prestigious 300 club.

At that time he would still be only 33 with Richmond's reigning best-and-fairest winner Brett Deledio saying recently that he could see no reason why Cousins could not keep playing until well in his 30s given that St Kilda champion Robert Harvey - who played in a similar style to Cousins - only retired at the end of last year at the age of 37.

http://www.skynews.com.au/sport/article.aspx?id=359537

[one-eyed]

The circus that never was
August 6, 2009 - 3:06PM

Many hoped he would lead Richmond to a long-awaited AFL finals berth in a blaze of glory. Others feared he would lead impressionable young teammates off the rails before ending his career in scandal.

Whichever way it went, Ben Cousins' career comeback at Tigerland was tipped to be a media circus, a soap opera and a distraction.

But few predicted that Cousins would do what he actually has - string together an impressive sequence of performances with little fanfare.

Cousins' opening-round hamstring injury and the Tigers' dismal season start were extremely bitter pills to swallow for a club which started the year with enormous optimism.

But they may have proved a blessing for the 31-year-old in his bid to reestablish his reputation as primarily a wonderful footballer rather than a recovering drug addict and human interest story.

By the time Cousins returned from injury in round seven, the club's season was all but shot and the spotlight had moved to when the axe would fall on then-coach Terry Wallace.

It has allowed Cousins to spend his 10 games since gaining little attention from anyone other than Richmond fans and the Tigers coaching staff.

And he has impressed them enormously.

The hard-running on-baller has averaged 25.8 disposals per game in those 10 matches, steadily improving throughout as his fitness has grown, hitting stellar form over the past month.

Significantly, Richmond's fortunes have climbed with Cousins' impact.

After one win from the first nine rounds, they have four victories and a draw from the last nine.

In those four wins, Cousins has been one of, if not the best, player for his side.

Midfield coach Wayne Campbell has nothing but praise for the former West Coast skipper and Brownlow Medallist, as he prepares for his 250th AFL match against Sydney at the MCG on Sunday.

Campbell labels his recent form "outstanding", while as a leader he has surpassed the club's expectations.

"I don't think we realised how good he was going to be in terms of leadership stuff," Campbell said.

"That was only because of the other issues, I suppose, it wasn't because we hadn't thought he was going to be a good leader, it was because it would get clouded by some of the other stuff.

"It's been a surprise how good he's been, but it shouldn't have been."

From a coach's viewpoint, Cousins has been superb for the club's young midfielders.

"All the values that he espouses as a footballer are successful ones," Campbell said.

"If you haven't had a lot of success as a young team you're going to start to think that the things the coaches are preaching aren't the right things.

"But when he's preaching them and he's been to a successful club and had success and they're the same things that the coaches are trying to tell the players to do, it just adds a little bit more.

"It's just been good for him to reinforce that the team-first stuff is the only way to go, that's his basic philosophy."

So good has Cousins been that he and club legend Matthew Richardson are the only Richmond players of six aged 30-plus that are all but certain to play on next season.

Kane Johnson has retired, Joel Bowden and Troy Simmonds face the cut, and Nathan Brown is in limbo.

But Campbell said keeping Cousins seemed a "no-brainer".

"The footy he's played in the last month has been outstanding, so a year down the track will he play any better than that? I'm not sure ... but I wouldn't expect him to be any worse, put it that way," he said.

"He was coming off 18 months without footy and he started training December 20 or something like that.

"Given he can have a full pre-season and we make sure we manage him pretty well ... it looks all positive."

Cousins' impact in a struggling side raises the question of what he could have done for a premiership contender.

St Kilda and Collingwood both looked seriously at him, but only Richmond considered him worth a punt.

It is scary to consider how good the Saints' already-impressive midfield could have been with Cousins in the mix and his premiership experience would also have been handy next month.

It would have made for an interesting sideline if he and close friend and former West Coast teammate Michael Gardiner experienced career resurgences simultaneously with the Saints.

The Magpies will also wonder whether Cousins' running power, clever ball use and experience might have transformed them from premiership roughies to legitimate contenders.

It is hard to imagine Cousins now leaving for another club, given the debt of loyalty he owes the Tigers for plucking him from the AFL scrapheap via last year's pre-season draft, although he justifiably wants a subtantial raise on his bargain basement salary.

But were he placed on the trade market, it would be fascinating to see what rival clubs would now be willing to give up for a player unwanted at any price eight months ago.

Cousins gave an indication of how much he values the second chance Richmond has provided, revealing he ignores his glory days with the Eagles when reviewing his career.

"I've started counting from one up, so it's almost like it's my 12th game," he told Nova FM of this weekend's milestone.

"That's meant (as) no disrespect to the time I spent at West Coast, but I've come into Richmond with a fresh start.

"So it's more my 12th game than my 250th, that's how it feels."

http://www.watoday.com.au/sport/the-circus-that-never-was-20090806-eb94.html?page=-1

[WilliamPowell]

Robbo was on SEN tonight (betwen 6-7pm) and siad he done an interview with Benny and it will be a 2 page spread in Saturday's HUN 

[one-eyed]

Cousins celebrates second life
Patrick Smith | August 08, 2009 

BEN Cousins will play his 250th game tomorrow. And there have never been 250 games like it. He is 31, at his second club, All-Australian umpteen times, has a Brownlow Medal and a West Coast premiership, was suspended for a year for bringing the game into disrepute, and he continues to battle his addiction to drugs.

Away from the football field, he is like a comet that flashes across the television screen. No one in the past two years has managed to take a picture of a stationary Cousins. He is always walking quickly to or from his car, always on his mobile phone. He is the game's highest-profile recluse.

He does a weekly radio spot, he has made himself available to the media on this, a most memorable weekend in his life. But other than that, publicly at least, he is either playing football or walking briskly with his car keys.

There were very worried friends and family who thought he might not make 29 years of age, never mind 250 games. His addiction had set him apart, first from his teammates in Perth (2007) and then from football altogether (2008). But never his family. And never his agent Ricky Nixon.

Cousins was recruited at the last moment by Richmond after Nixon sought to find a second AFL home for him somewhere, anywhere. Clubs knocked him back, some out of hand, others like Collingwood after they carried out due diligence. He became a Richmond player with the last pick available in 2008.

And that nearly didn't happen. Various Richmond officials denied the club would select him and it was not until the Tigers made the call on the last selection that his immediate future was known. It was a risk. He will never be able to sign off on his recovery from drug abuse and he had been out of football for the best part of two years. And he had a hamstring that was as volatile as his addiction.

As it was Richmond was not sophisticated enough to handle the notoriety and expectation that accompanied him. The Tigers were humiliated in the first game of the year against Carlton. Cousins tore his hamstring. More than 86,000 supporters went to the MCG to witness the club's utter humiliation by 83 points. Effectively, a season was over when it had barely begun. Coach Terry Wallace went midway through the season, Jade Rawlings will guide it to round 22 but is unlikely to be given the task next year.

Richmond will recontract Cousins because he is just about the best player in the team. He is averaging 24 possessions in his 11 games this season in a side that has won five matches for the year. Compare that to St Kilda's champion Lenny Hayes, who has averaged 27 possessions in a team that sits on top of the ladder, unbeaten in 18 rounds.

Richmond officials believe his contribution is not just measurable in kicks and handballs. He has brought leadership to a playing list that had precious little of that essential quality. But Cousins has made a comeback not just as a footballer but as a person. He has acknowledged recently, and for the first time, to close friends that he can see a life without drugs in his future. That is considered a critical moment in his rehabilitation. The role football and Richmond has played in that -- and will continue to -- should not be underestimated.

That he has started afresh is clear in this response to his 250th game. "It is not my 250th, it is my 12th," he is reported as saying. It is a clear indication that he feels he has begun a second life and one that is intricately linked to Richmond.

The Tigers will need Cousins next year as the club begins another era under another coach. It should retain Matthew Richardson, too. Both Cousins and Richardson are greats of their era and will be required for their experience and talent as the club finally makes a measured and thoughtful push to excellence and a return to finals football.

Nixon needs to be congratulated for his role with Cousins. He never gave up his search for a club. He knew how important the football club routine would be to bring Cousins's life back to some sort of normality. And with that the footballer had his best chance of beating his addiction.

It is unclear exactly what role AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou played in Cousins' arrival at Richmond, but he obviously encouraged Nixon to continue his search for a new home for the player Demetriou and his commission suspended for 12 months in 2008.

Cousins is a good news story when something quite dreadful was an alternative. The AFL, Nixon, Richmond and Cousins and his family are to be applauded. Pray that we never stop clapping.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25898543-12270,00.html

[one-eyed]

Robbo was on SEN tonight (betwen 6-7pm) and siad he done an interview with Benny and it will be a 2 page spread in Saturday's HUN 

Here it is .....


Ben Cousins clocks up 250 games
Mark Robinson | August 08, 2009

MARK ROBINSON: One week ago you were best on ground, one year ago you didn't have a football club. It's been a hell of a journey.

BEN COUSINS: It's been a big 12 months, and part of the reason why coming back to footy appealed to me so much was the element of the unknown.

There were a lot of challenges: coming back to play footy, whether you were going to make the grade, whether your body was going to hold up.

After Round 1 there were question marks about whether I was going to stand up.

The transition back into football I've been reasonably happy with and just being a part of a football environment . . . I've underestimated how much I've really enjoyed playing alongside 21 other blokes.

Were you always confident after your drug troubles you would get to the form you're playing?

I was always confident that I was able to make the grade. Whether I was going to get somewhere near my best, I'm not sure.

But I was confident I could play a year of senior footy if my body held up.

Are you near your best?

It's hard to say. I will be better prepared next year than I was this year, albeit a year older.

But I think I'm justifying my existence.

So the attitude is where it needs to be to play senior footy?

I'm just really enjoying being a member of the Richmond footy club. I have as much hunger and passion for the game now as I've ever had.

There is talk of contract negotiations.

If you play good footy, hopefully the rest takes care of itself. I'd like to think that there's something on for next year and time will tell.

This time, 12 months ago, there were doubts about you playing, surely from yourself as well. Can you remember how you felt through September, October and November?

It wasn't a long time ago, and through all my indiscretions, I have always taken up the challenges that are presented in footy.

And overcoming the past 12 months presented one of, if not the, biggest footy challenge.

You alone can answer how difficult it's been, and can you let us know, especially after you did your hamstring in Round 1?

It hasn't been all smooth sailing, but life isn't, a year in footy isn't, no one's year in footy is easy.

Taking into account where you were coming from.

Yeah, and I was under no illusions I was coming up against a big challenge and it wasn't going to be easy.

How I assessed the past 12 months wasn't going to be on how many kicks or handballs I got, or how many good games I played, because sometimes that's out of your control.

It was more about how I took up the challenge and getting through my hamstring injury.

Dealing with your drug situation?

Just dealing, you know, with life on life's terms.

How are you dealing with life on life's terms?

Pretty well. I'm in a good place. I'm really enjoying my footy, I love Melbourne, I love the players I'm playing alongside.

For 12 months there, maybe a bit longer, you forget what it's like to run out with 21 other blokes and draw inspiration from the little things each bloke contributes to the team.

Football is an emotional game and I play it with emotion, I get off on that.

So how much has the Richmond experience been above what you expected?

I'm enjoying my footy now as much as I ever had.

It's been a tough year for us as a footy club, but with that, it presents itself with another whole list of opportunities for somebody like me, who's experienced a fair bit in footy and understands the importance of fast-tracking young guys' development.

Has your philosophy of footy changed from playing at West Coast to playing at Richmond?

I evolved a lot as a player at West Coast. I left a very different player to the one I started, through being given leadership roles.

I was captain of the footy club for a while, I was part of a side that was struggling and saw it transform into a powerhouse.

And I saw the things you need to do as a side to get there. I've come into a side at Richmond which is in a very developmental stage and with that comes a little of excitement and . . .

Pride?

Well, yeah.

Are you proud of the fact of where you have come from to where you are now?

I try not to reflect too much because it makes you complacent.

You've said that several times. Do you ever reflect?

Umm, sometimes, but not a lot. Part of what made me a successful footballer is that I'm never satisfied and I always want to look to the next week.

It's been leaking out of Richmond that you have been playing a major role in developing and coaching the midfield. Are you enjoying the responsibility?

It's hard to assess the impact or influence I have on other players. I'm talking more than I did at the start of the season and, you know, it's an opportunity to talk about it being my 250th game.

For a long time there I stopped counting games, but when I came back to Richmond I started again and this week is my 12th game.

That's in no way meaning to disrespect the time I had at West Coast, but I walked into Richmond with a clean slate . . .

Cleanish slate.

Well, maybe not a clean slate, but a fresh start, and I understood how important it was for me to start at base camp and work my way up to earning the respect of the players on and off the field.

That comes with only working hard and playing some half-decent footy.

The young players at Richmond obviously talk to you about footy, but do they also talk to you about your life experiences?

Not as much, but I'm sure a lot of the younger guys look at that side of my life with a bit of trepidation, bit unsure about where the line is.

If they did, would you accommodate?

Yeah, I would have no trouble at all. How and when I am able to use some of my life experiences to have an impact on other people, I'm unsure about.

But I'm under no illusions I think it can have a pretty significant impact on other people. If nothing else, it's been a big experience.

Has the world moved on from Ben Cousins? The circus has stopped?

You'd hope so. I understood a lot of the reasons why it was so topical.

You're making a doco. The build-up to the first game and then the hamstring pinging could have been a movie itself.

I knew it was going to be way out of proportion in terms of build-up, but it was one of the reasons why I wanted to come back and play footy, and that was to be part of that, put myself in the position of having to stand up.

To be the focus of that much attention in a pretty stressful time in your life, where there was huge doubts from people, and from yourself at certain times, that's just the sporting challenge and one I was looking forward to.

So you have a sense of normality now?

I'm just about the only normal person I know (laughing) . . . perhaps everyone else is completely mad.

Are people forgiving and understanding?

People ask me how people are treating me. You know, I'm not bitter towards anyone.

I've got through this intact. I look at my footy experience and the last few years and I consider myself in front.

Lucky?

Yeah, I am, absolutely. I'm in front, I'm ahead of the game.

I'm ahead in terms of luck and good fortune. I certainly don't sit here and think, 'Gee, I've been dealt a harsh hand'. Not at all, quite the opposite.

How tough was the period when Terry Wallace was under siege?

Footy and life, it's tough, you know.

You rang Mitch Morton after the Port Adelaide game, after Wallace said what he said. What did you say?

We all find ourselves in the hot seat at some point and that week was his turn.

Football, like life, tests us out along the way. Sometimes you are fairly going to be put in that position, sometimes unfairly.

I have had a good involvement with Mitch and I just know how much I've appreciated the support that I've copped when I've been under some scrutiny. That's what it's all about, you rally around people.

And post-Terry, Jade comes in.

I very much look at Jade as a coach. With a young coach you may not get that feeling, but I look at him and I see a coach. I've really enjoyed working under him.

Have you seen a change in the way the Tigers have played under Jade?

As you would expect, we all do things slightly differently. Terry's not Jade and Jade is not Terry, and that's not a bad reflection of either of them.

I'm actually in a position to give Terry a wrap because whilst it was a really tough time when Terry exited the footy club, he took a huge punt on me and was the only guy willing to and for that I'm very grateful.

There's a part of me that feels disappointed I couldn't return the favour by playing good footy under him.

Terry texted me today, actually. At the moment we are in the throes of a footy season, so it's hard to catch up, but we'll have a beer at the end of the season away from the scrutiny.

You sound as though, mentally and physically, you are on top of your game.

I came into pre-season at Christmas, so it was a very interrupted preparation, and it's taken me half the season to get over injuries, to get my body right, and right now I'm feeling really confident.

I don't think I've lost a yard of pace, I'm going strong. But I am 31, and in my own mind I'm confident in my ability and confident I will be better prepared next year, but I understand it's a year-to-year proposition.

Someone said to me the other day, 'Gee, it would be nice to get a two-year deal'. It would be nice in some ways, but approaching your footy in a year-to-year proposition keeps you hungry. It 100 per cent ensures you get the most out of the year.

At the moment, I'm not asking for anything, I'm just playing footy.

Where is Richmond in terms of development?

You can't look too much further than your win-loss ratio, but what I do know is that as quickly as it can fall apart, just as quickly it can turn around.

I would like to think the foundation we are putting in now, and the continued development, we could approach next year with some excitement.

I honestly believe that. You could go through our side and see a lot of upside. I think Leigh Matthews or Mick Malthouse still after every year would sit back and say, 'Gee, I was surprised by that bloke's development; gee, he came from nowhere'. Blokes continually surprise you.

Who surprised you?

I've admired the way Chris Newman has gone about his footy. To captain a side when it's struggling - and I know what that is like - and coming in for his first year, it's a pretty tough environment for a captain.

I just think he's done a pretty good job and he will continue to develop as a leader.

Have you an opinion on Jade, re: next year?

I think he's proven more than capable he can coach a senior side. I've really enjoyed playing under him, but obviously who coaches is a decision for the club and not the players.

Have you got an opinion on Richo?

I texted Richo last week before his comeback, hoping that he'd do well, and just saying I'm looking forward to playing footy with him, and nothing has changed.

Your 250th, is it an important number for you?

Not really.

Doesn't give you one moment in time to reflect on the journey?

I've played enough games now to know I've played enough to be respected as a footballer. Be it 240, or 250 or 260, it doesn't really matter too much to me.

You are going to have a banner for the game, and it might not mean anything to you, but Richmond supporters will acknowledge you.

That sits pretty uncomfortably with me getting acknowledged by Richmond people. I've played half a season for them.

Maybe it might be a welcome-to-the-family banner.

I feel they've done that already.

Will you look at the banner when you run out?

I won't not look at it, but I don't know what it will say, if anything, really.

I'm aware of the emotion of footy fans, but this milestone doesn't carry, and nor should it, much significance among the Richmond players or supporters.

It would probably be different if I played 250 games for Richmond, but I still wouldn't expect that either.

Would John Worsfold text you to congratulate you on your milestone?

I don't know. I understand . . . you know, I'm playing for Richmond now. I'm just trying to underplay the significance of playing 250 games.

Are you a footy nut? Could you name the 250-game players for West Coast or who has played 300 games for Richmond?

No. But I watch more footy now and I enjoy footy now more than I ever have. I probably spent the best part of my career trying to escape from it, but I would sit down and watch Friday night footy every week.

Part of the reason why I've enjoyed Melbourne is I'm not waking up to West Coast and Fremantle every day. It was very insular and it wasn't a rounded football experience.

Here, it's about what's happening in the game. We talk about everything, about St Kilda, Geelong, the big games, coaches, rules. You don't get saturated reading about yourself or your club.

You said you were in a happy space. How has Melbourne helped that? What do you do outside footy?

Melbourne has been very good for that, but I attribute a lot of that to moving to a new city, starting a new job, just being able to move on, go forward, and I wasn't afforded that opportunity last year.

Last year I was a gypsy, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney. I was living out of a suitcase for 12 months and I was in no position to look further ahead than next week.

Is Melbourne home?

Yep. I'd love to explore the opportunities post-footy here.

Can you live without footy?

I don't know.

Does coaching in some capacity interest you?

If you asked me that question in any year at my time at West Coast, I would have said straight up no.

But I couldn't give you that answer now. I don't know if that's a yes, but in some form I'd like to think I could have some involvement in footy, whether it be coaching the under-12s or whatever.

I've had conversations with Kane Johnson about it. He finished this year in a transitional role and I think he will be fantastic at it.

When footy is taken away from you, there's a void in your life and I will find out how important footy is.

You had the void because of your issues, but now that it's back, you don't seem to want to let it go.

I can't put a time frame on anything. All I know is it's good for me. I enjoy it. You're a long time retired, and I've got the rest of my life to do whatever I'm going to do.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25897844-19742,00.html

[Ramps]

Well whatever happens we have done our best as a club for Ben. Hes going great guns at the moment hopefully he can continue in the same way and play for atleast another year or two.

[one-eyed]

Rawlings got Judd down to Punt Rd to talk to the boys about what it meant to him playing alongside Cousins.

[one-eyed]

Candid Ben Cousins talks about 'depression' after AFL snub
Joe Spagnolo | August 08, 2009 06:00pm

BEN Cousins has revealed how he spiralled into depression after being told none of the 16 AFL clubs wanted him in the national draft.

The former Eagles star, who will pull on a Richmond guernsey for his 250th AFL game today, said he imprisoned himself in his house, refusing to speak to even his parents.

``I'm not a depressive person, but it was a state of depression,'' Cousins told GQ Australia magazine. ``I had the life sucked out of me. I didn't feel like leaving the house.

``I slept a lot, I didn't talk to anyone. I wasn't on the phone to my parents or my mates. I just shut everything out.

``The process itself of getting me back to footy probably made me as vulnerable as I've ever been.

``That's the point that everyone has missed. The process itself was so counter-productive to what I was trying to achieve.

``I'd been given 12 months off, left to my own devices.

``The whole thing I wanted about getting back to playing footy was to give me the foundation that I needed. If I was in a perfect state of mind, I could have gone on and done anything, but I wasn't.''

Being overlooked in the November 29 draft was a wake-up call for Cousins.

Realising that the following pre-season draft was his last chance to extend his AFL career, he met AFL legend Kevin Sheedy to discuss the road back to football. He had talks with Richmond and convinced the club he was a chance worth taking.

Cousins, who starred in 238 games with West Coast, will today play his 250th, for the Tigers against the Swans at the MCG. He is scheduled to play against the Eagles on Friday, August 28.

``I wasn't born a great footballer. I've worked as hard as anyone I know my age,'' he said.

Off the field, Cousins admits he continues to face his demons.

He says he watches what he drinks and is careful not to do anything that will put him on the path to destruction.

``I have to be careful with that sort of stuff (drinking),'' he said. ``I'm on a pretty strict regime.

``I can't afford to slip up, and enjoying the occasional drink is something I look forward to do. It's all in moderation.''

Cousins said drugs did not discriminate: ``People from all walks of life can find themselves in trouble and strife, or mixed up with drugs. There's no right or wrong formula.''

Asked if his demons had left him, Cousins replied: ``I'm not naive enough to think that I can just wash my hands of where I've come from and it's all in the past. The harsh reality is it's a struggle.''

Despite the tribulations of the past few years Cousins still showed a sense of humour during the interview and fashion shoot. ``Don't put me in an Elwood shirt. Every time I wear one of those I get arrested,'' he quipped.

GQ Australia will be on sale on Wednesday.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,27574,25901651-2761,00.html

[one-eyed]

Judd enters Tigers' lair … for Cousins
Caroline Wilson | August 9, 2009

THE relationship that existed and clearly still exists between Ben Cousins and Chris Judd has been one of football's more intriguing notions, so it is heartening to learn that the Carlton skipper yesterday went to Tigerland to pay tribute to his old Eagles teammate.

It is a measure not only of Judd's respect for Cousins that he entered enemy territory, but also of Richmond's affection for Cousins that the club took the trouble to set it up.

Cousins certainly had no idea it was coming. Coach Jade Rawlings - not a little annoyed when contacted by The Sunday Age to learn that the anecdote had escaped Punt Road's inner sanctum - would not discuss what went on, saying he had promised the Blues the address would remain confidential.

But the Judd speech was reportedly organised by Rawlings as a surprise for the 31-year-old, who will almost certainly be back among the double-figure vote-winners at next month's Brownlow Medal count, to celebrate a milestone that one year ago did not seem possible - Cousins' 250th game today against Sydney.

Brett Ratten approved the idea and Judd was happy to tell the Tigers, preparing yesterday for this afternoon's match against Sydney, about his friend. By all reports, the speech was pretty good and laced with plenty of humor.

Given that Carlton will not even agree to a gate-sharing agreement with Richmond next season, the achievement in getting the Blues' captain to Tigerland was a psychological victory after what the two men have been through together.

Together they led a midfield that contested two of the past decade's most thrilling grand finals - the West Coast-Sydney grand finals of 2005 and '06 were both decided by less than a goal.

Each player won a Brownlow in consecutive years and alternated over a four-year period as the Eagles' club champion.

Cousins captained West Coast in the four-point loss to Sydney in 2005, but was stripped of the leadership the following year.

When Judd held aloft the premiership cup after his team's one-point victory in 2006, he demanded his team's ''spiritual leader'' jump up alongside him.

We now know that Cousins was deep into a long-term drug addiction by then and his reputation still remains diametrically opposite to that of Judd, the near-perfect footballer who is now working to recreate the Carlton Football Club in his own image.

Judd left West Coast at the conclusion of Cousins' last soap-operatic season there. He said probably quite honestly that he simply wanted to live in his home town, but surely he was concerned about being tainted by his club's then dirty reputation.

It can't have helped that he was injured and yet unceremoniously flogged as that club attempted to make its way to another finals series.

On Tuesday, Judd is expected to fly to Canberra alongside AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou to promote next week's ''Green Round'' with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. This is not a journey you would expect Cousins to make.

And yet no one would be happier outside Cousins' inner circle than Demetriou at the progress of the player's comeback. Several weeks ago, he described Cousins' form and demeanour as one of the most inspiring of the football year and ''one big tick for the Richmond Football Club'' in a season in which there have not been many others at Punt Road.

Many of us mocked West Coast once its ''spiritual leader'' checked into Californian rehab, but it is true that Eagles players to this day insist that Cousins was their greatest captain of the two, even if Judd led them gallantly.

Richmond people agree that after a rocky start marred by nervous tension, some selfishness and money worries - and the Tigers did not exactly handle Cousins' debut perfectly either - the brilliant midfielder has surprised them on the leadership front.

As he delivers yet another perfectly executed kick each week, you can hear Richmond supporters lamenting that is his teammates who are letting him down and not vice-versa. More surprising to all at the club is the player's pre-game intensity. Cousins becomes ferocious and frightening as he withdraws into his own fiercely competitive headspace.

Nobody can say whether Cousins will make it through to another season, but the signs could scarcely be any better.

He and Judd are two football geniuses who will be forever linked by the 2006 premiership and clearly much more.

Judd went to Carlton as the million-dollar man, Cousins significantly more cheaply to Richmond. Clubs were interviewed by Judd and not the other way around. Cousins' prospective clubs continued to drop off him.

But both the Blues and the Tigers remain convinced that both men can help reshape their respective sides back into the powerhouses that once hated each other so much that such a gesture of friendship as took place yesterday would be quite simply unthinkable.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/judd-enters-tigers-lair-8230-for-cousins/2009/08/08/1249350733559.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

[mightytiges]

Well whatever happens we have done our best as a club for Ben. Hes going great guns at the moment hopefully he can continue in the same way and play for atleast another year or two.

Ditto

``I wasn't born a great footballer. I've worked as hard as anyone I know my age,'' he said.

A good lesson to remember for all his young teammates at Punt Rd.

[Francois Jackson]

Well whatever happens we have done our best as a club for Ben. Hes going great guns at the moment hopefully he can continue in the same way and play for atleast another year or two.

Ditto

``I wasn't born a great footballer. I've worked as hard as anyone I know my age,'' he said.

A good lesson to remember for all his young teammates at Punt Rd.

IMO The recruit of Cuz was the best decision Wallet made in his 5 years.

It was a big call and took guts