Cousins can beat setback
Nathan Buckley | March 28, 2009
We all struggle, we all fall from time to time - it's picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and going again that counts.
NOTHING Ben Cousins does in the rest of his life will be normal. Even the most mundane, everyday occurrence for him has been, and will continue to be, headlines. Sightings have been reported all over Melbourne; at the shops, wow; out to dinner with friends, gasp; with a girl, giggle; at a rock concert … I say, good on him.
Everyone is fascinated with the Ben Cousins story. He is a very public figure who has endured a very public demise and now he is working day by day to get back to the existence that is normal to him … being an AFL footballer.
Professional footballers aren't robots, they need somewhere or something to release the emotional pressure and stress that can build up; no different to everyone else, really. Even the most professional players have their vices, otherwise the intensity and focus required can simply not be sustained.
For Cousins, his release valve of choice in the past was destructive and he is still in the process of finding strategies to find the necessary balance in his "new" life.
As he works towards that, he is under intense scrutiny. It's a tough ask. There is very little fair-minded commentary of his situation. The highs and lows that he is trying to avoid in order to find consistency are everywhere he looks.
The events of Thursday night won't have made it any easier.
The "Cousins return" lived up to the hype, despite the fact it was a non-contest. The game was secondary to the main event. Cousins in his first home-and-away match for 18 months, as a Tiger, in front of a packed MCG. Depending on your perspective, you were either enthralled, excited or worried. The latter were on the money.
All eyes would have looked and found the impressively ripped figure of Cousins as the Tigers took the field for their first warm-up and then again when they entered the arena moments before play began.
They didn't have to wait long until he earned his first touch, either — a simple ground-level gather, evade a tackler, give off in the corridor and follow up the disposal. It looked like auto-pilot for him, but it would have been a much-needed settler to calm the nerves.
I began watching the game with the knowledge of this article on the horizon. I was going to keep an eye on his every move, but as the game unfolded I became enthralled with the verve and intensity of Carlton's youth. It's hard not to be pulled in by such raw enthusiasm.
There was a period in the second term when Richmond was on the ropes and none of its players looked likely, or keen for that matter, to be the one to halt the slide and take the bull by the horns. At the 10-minute mark, Cousins got three quick touches in the space of a minute, he looked like being the one that would refuse to be pushed back any further. In the end, neither he nor the Tigers could sustain it.
Ultimately, long after the Tigers' night was over, so too was Cousins'.
Right on three-quarter-time he reached down to the back of his knee, flicked the left leg out a few times and surged for 20 metres into the huddle, in the process of self-evaluation an experienced player goes through with soft-tissue stress.
After assessment and treatment during the break the decision was made to send him out in the final stanza. Just minutes in, with ball in hand, pushing hard out of defence, he broke down. There has been criticism of the medical and coaching staff for allowing it to happen, but a player of Cousins' experience generally makes the call, and this is where external pressure and the long lay-off can play a part.
He is a natural competitor, he wants to play and wants to make a difference. Perhaps even more so now, to repay the faith and opportunity the Tigers have granted him. Eternal optimism is also a common trait of champions and at no stage would Cousins have considered the worst-case scenario.
This time around, though, he will have less knowledge of how his body will react to the same volumes and stresses that it handled routinely just a few years ago. It was an error in judgement and an unfortunate incident, but injury is an ever-present part of the game.
There is little doubt that Cousins' unique circumstances compounds any setback and it is now, more than ever, that he will need the support and structure that the football environment provides. This was always going to be a "high-risk" period, but he seems better placed now to deal with it than at any stage of the past few years.
Since the moment he was overlooked in the national draft last year, what I've seen and heard from Cousins has been admirable. You can tell when someone finds clarity in themselves, accepts responsibility for their actions and the affect it has on the rest of their life, and others — just as Wayne Carey showed last weekend.
For Cousins and Carey, that attitude is a massive contrast to the smokescreen, bravado and bluff that existed up to that point.
After Thursday's game, the perspective Cousins had on his setback was as it should be. He was gutted, frustrated and desperate to prove his worth, and he will work towards doing that.
While Cousins was the story that night, the reality was quite different. Rather than see just Ben Cousins on the football field, I saw 44 individuals, each with their own trials and challenges; all of them just as real and confronting as another set of circumstances might be to another.
That's football and it's also the way of the world. We all struggle, we all fall from time to time … it's picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and going again that counts.
I hope that everyone on that field continues to deal with their challenges and make the most of the opportunity to play the game. I wish it as much for Ben Cousins as I do for any other.
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/rfnews/cousins-can-beat-setback/2009/03/27/1237657151106.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
