Cuz hammy - Out for 3-4 weeks / I am shattered: Ben Cousins

[Mr Magic]

Another ill fated comeback by a former champ.

I think we have seen his best.

[Infamy]

Send him to Germany to have calf blood and superglue injected into his hammies, or whatever it was they did to Cogs

Cogs ????   
forget about this player who should have been delisted a few years ago

Speaking of players who should have been delisted years ago, check your avatar

[Go Richo 12]

Im really dissappointed that people who thought it was a great story of human triumph to draft Ben are now out with the knives! Im getting bombarded with people saying that it was a mistake to draft him now, round 1 into what could be a 5 year career at Punt Road!

[Chuck17]

Im really dissappointed that people who thought it was a great story of human triumph to draft Ben are now out with the knives! Im getting bombarded with people saying that it was a mistake to draft him now, round 1 into what could be a 5 year career at Punt Road!

Dont know about five I would have thought two or three max, but your point is valid GR12.

[one-eyed]

You're on, Ben Cousins
Mark Stevens | March 28, 2009

 LEADING sports medico Peter Larkins has expressed surprise at Richmond's decision to send Ben Cousins back into battle after three-quarter time on Thursday night.

Larkins was convinced Cousins' first game with the Tigers was over when he consulted medical staff at the final change.

Richmond has defended the decision to put Cousins back on the ground after the break, saying the medicos cleared him after treatment for soreness at the back of his knee.

But Larkins, close to the bench and huddle in his role as boundary rider for Triple M, said Cousins was having work on his hamstrings.

"He indicated to them that he was sore. The doctor spoke to him and then two of the physios who treat him worked on his right and left hamstring. The main one was his left one," Larkins said.

Cousins started the final term on the bench and Larkins said he had a four to five-minute conversation with club medical staff.

"He did a couple of run-throughs, a couple of high kicks extending his legs," Larkins said.

"And I thought they made a call not to put him back on because he was shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders saying it's not bad, but it's not great.

"I would have thought in that situation, with the state of the game, it would have meant the end of it."

Larkins said Cousins headed for the race, keen for a toilet break, only to be told by Tigers conditioning expert John Vickery that he needed AFL approval under new rules.

"While Ben was standing at the top of the race, Shane Tuck was coming off and they yelled out, 'Hey Cuz, you're on'. He turned around and just ran on to the ground," Larkins said.

"He might have said he was fine, but when he went back on we saw the result."

Cousins suffered a grade-one tear in his left hamstring soon after returning to the fray, in a horror night for the Tigers.

The club said yesterday Cousins had pulled up better than expected and would miss three to four weeks.

Tigers assistant coach David King was adamant Cousins was not troubled by a hamstring problem at the final break.

"It wasn't the hamstring that was causing him concern. It was a problem in behind his knee, it's a sore spot there," King said on 3AW last night.

"They can say what they like, the fact is the medical people checked him over and they ticked him off as right to go back on and we backed them in.

"That's the debate, everyone's talking about 'Would you put him back on with a problem with his hamstring?' He didn't have that, so it's over."

Cousins' injury is to the "belly" of the hamstring, midway between the buttock and the knee.

Larkins said it was the fourth time Cousins had injured his left hamstring and tipped he could be out for up to six weeks.

"Admittedly, he didn't have any trouble at all in his Brownlow year of 2005, but he had trouble in 2006 and 2007," Larkins said.

"Anything from four to six weeks is average in a case like this. I think it is a real setback.

"It was the most predictable thing that was going to happen. It was a matter of when and unfortunately it's happened a little more than three-quarters into his first game."

Cousins found sympathy from the enemy camp after the match, with both Carlton coach Brett Ratten and skipper Chris Judd wishing him well.

"I will give him a call in a week or so when things have settled down for him," Judd said. "It's a tough break, isn't it - it's AFL footy - but he'll put in the rehab and he'll work hard on getting it right.

"Hopefully he's back out there sooner rather than later."

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25253056-19742,00.html

[torch]

Cousins ... out for 3-4 weeks?

how about Raines?

[Ramps]

Im really dissappointed that people who thought it was a great story of human triumph to draft Ben are now out with the knives! Im getting bombarded with people saying that it was a mistake to draft him now, round 1 into what could be a 5 year career at Punt Road!

The money that has been banked by the club because of Ben Cousins now means that irrespective of what happens with Ben, that it has been a successful endeavor for the club. If we can get 10 to 15 games now that would be a bonus.

[Judge Roughneck]

Do you remember when Cogs came off in the gave in Tassie and said his knee was rooted? And the Richmond medics says no worrys mate go back on, and he did, and he took a good mark but in the process did his ACL?

I cannot beleive it happened again Thurs. night with Cuz

[Infamy]

Do you remember when Cogs came off in the gave in Tassie and said his knee was rooted? And the Richmond medics says no worrys mate go back on, and he did, and he took a good mark but in the process did his ACL?

I cannot beleive it happened again Thurs. night with Cuz

That is absolute garbage, talk about using a little artistic license on the truth

[mightytiges]

Interesting to see how the club goes over the next couple of weeks without Cuz being the main attraction of the media. It's all back on Wallace and the rest of the team now. As Cambo said in Fighting Tiger there's never a dull moment at Tigerland.

[one-eyed]

Eddie on Cuz....

Stay strong in tough times
Eddie Maguire | March 29, 2009

Thursday night's match between Richmond and Carlton was the perfect example.

There was no earthly reason why that match should have caused the excitement it did.

Carlton is on the move, no doubt about that, and Richmond has been the talk of the summer. And, of course, there was the Ben Cousins factor.

But since 2000, the once-great clubs have provided five wooden spoons.

The Tigers' great white hope was a 30-year-old recovering drug addict with a dodgy hamstring.

Yet more than 86,000 turned up and at least until halfway through the first quarter brought a joy and expectation that neither side has tasted since last century.

By the end of the night, the Blues marketing slogan, "They know we are coming" had become a mantra for the supporters of Carlton. For the Tigers there was bitter disappointment, but it is round one of a long season and plenty more twists and turns will be had before the season can be assessed.

To me, Cousins has already achieved so much more than anyone could have hoped for -- maybe himself included.

To have the will to fight his drug addiction and at the same time present himself in such condition to be selected to play AFL is remarkable.

Any player over 30 recovering from the hamstring injury he suffered in his last game 18 months ago for West Coast will be a week-to-week proposition.

It is what he can provide the Tigers this year as much by example and inspiration that may yet provide Richmond with a return on its investment.

In recent times, Essendon's Matthew Lloyd and former Collingwood great Nathan Buckley suffered chronic hamstring problems.

They are two of the best players of any era; they are mentally tough and leave nothing to chance in their preparation.

In Buckley's case, he walked from the MCG in the preliminary final of 2007, his hamstring gone -- he wouldn't have made the Grand Final even if Collingwood had.

Lloyd is still fighting his way back after suffering a similar hamstring problem to Cousins.

Cousins' hammy is just one part of his comeback equation and that is what makes his achievement in getting on the ground amazing.

He is off the ground for at least a month with this damaged hamstring, but we can all learn from him as he begins a further comeback. Keep fighting, Benny.

The excesses of his life have been well documented and now he must adjust to the excesses of his playing and training regime.

His obsessive power running and training preparation may have to be adjusted, but Cousins' setback may turn out to offer even more hope for those looking to learn from his circumstances.

Mick Malthouse has a motto: "That those with the most invested are the last to surrender".

That is why, with such a big emotional investment, that everyone who falls in love with a footy club, whether they be player, administrator, coach or supporter, feels the loss of a game of footy in such a personal way.

It is why the Tiger fans were so hurt leaving the MCG. It is why the Carlton fans were so exhilarated -- their wilderness years look like they're coming to an end.

It is why we keep on fronting up. It is a metaphor for the human condition.

It is why the people of Victoria's bushfire areas are looking to regrow their lives. Why all our hearts sank when Cousins went down. Why we are all now barracking for him to hang in and come good.
And why we must make sure that those who feel there is nowhere left to go, and nothing to look forward to, know that where there is life, there is hope.

In life, in business, in nature and in sport.

Don't give up.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25256140-5000117,00.html

[one-eyed]

Cousins backs Richmond medical staff
AAP - March 29, 2009, 6:32 pm

Ben Cousins has strongly defended the Richmond medical staff after suffering a hamstring injury in the Tigers' disastrous start to the AFL season.

Cousins suffered a grade-one left hamstring tear six minutes into the last quarter on Thursday night at the MCG.

It capped a shocking night for the Tigers, who lost by 83 points.

At three-quarter time, medical personnel were looking at the back of Cousins' left knee.

But he said that was an unrelated issue to his hamstring.

There has been widespread speculation about why he returned to the game, given his history of hamstring injuries and the fact that Richmond were well behind.

Cousins insisted that any criticism of the support staff was unjustified.

"I was confident to go back on, I wanted to go back on, because I thought I was in a position to do that," he told Channel Seven.

"I couldn't speak more highly of the way they (the medical staff) have got me from the point I was then to the point I was in round one.

"I couldn't have done anything more to be prepared.

"I am 30, I've had 18 months out of the game, I was going to cop some sort of injury at some point, you would think."

Cousins said he had experienced tightness behind the knee before in his career and said it was only a "niggling" problem.

"With the work I'd done with the medicos, I was 100 per cent confident - and still am - that's what it was," he said.

Cousins is encouraged by the diagnosis and the Tigers say he should be back in three to four weeks.

"It doesn't have to keep me out of the game for six weeks," he said.

But fellow Brownlow Medallist Nathan Buckley, who interviewed Cousins, is not so sure.

Buckley had well-documented hamstring trouble towards the end of his career and he thinks Cousins might have to sit out more than a month.

He added Cousins would probably have to resume in the VFL with the Tigers' affiliate Coburg.

"I'd suspect they might be even more cautious than that (four weeks)," Buckley said.

"The only issue is what's best for Ben Cousins and his football ... I reckon he would have to (play in the VFL)."

Buckley said Cousins seemed very realistic and optimistic about this latest setback to his career.

"He is a very focussed individual, he's a very professional footballer, he does everything - dots the Is and crosses the Ts," Buckley said.

Cousins described the injury as a minor hiccup, but admitted he felt shattered and angry, particularly because it was another hamstring injury.

"Footy is the easy bit - this hamstring, although it's going to be hard to deal with in some respects, it's the easy bit (compared) to where I've come from," he said of his drug addiction.

"God works in mysterious ways and things have a funny way of working out.

"This could be a blessing in disguise, for me and for Richmond - we've got that out of the way now.

"We have a lot of work to do, it was a huge reality check, in my mind we're a lot better side than that."

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/afl/news/article/-/5462632/cousins-backs-richmond-medical-staff

[mightytiges]

A pretty strong defence of our club medicos by Ben. He's taken the full wrap himself for what happened.

[WilliamPowell]

A pretty strong defence of our club medicos by Ben. He's taken the full wrap himself for what happened.

Actually been pretty impressed with Benny's 2 recent TV interviews... The Ch10 one and now game day...

Pretty clear he wants to repay the RFC for taking a chance on him

[julzqld]

At the risk of sounding cynical, he could hardly say otherwise.