Fallen AFL star Ben Cousins has admitted life gave him ‘more chances than I deserve’ – as he spoke of the toll his off-the-field troubles took on his footy teammate Chris Judd.
Speaking at a function in Perth on Friday night, the ex-West Coast Eagles midfielder, now 43, spoke about his biggest regrets, including his infamous meth addiction and the six stints behind bars it took before he finally got clean.
‘I appreciate the support of everyone and how many chances they have given me, more than I deserve and more than I would have given anyone else,’ Cousins said, according to The West Australian.
The 43-year-old – who has now found work in the demolition industry – said his recent foray into the world of community-based sport helped to turn his life around.
‘I’m also loving my club footy (with the Queens Park Bulldogs), it keeps me busy,’ he told the audience at the WA Italian Club.
Ben Cousins was the poster boy of the AFL before his infamous meth addiction took over his life
Speaking at a function on Friday night in Perth, Cousins opened up about the pressure he placed his great mate Chris Judd (pictured left with his wife Rebecca) under at West Coast
Cousins had a tumultuous relationship with the mother of his children Maylea Tinecheff (pictured right)
Cousins, a father-of-two, also revealed his deep regret at how his out of control off-field behaviour rattled his good friends and the man who replaced him as Eagles skipper.
‘I let my club down and I put Juddy in a tough spot,’ Cousins said. ‘And I feel for him… through my issues I put him in a tough position.’
Cousins’ fall from grace was as sad as it was spectacular.
Virtually untouchable and revered after winning a premiership in 2006, Cousins career quickly took a turn for the worse.
At his peak, Cousins was undoubtedly the best player in the AFL, with his rapid demise and subsequent total unwillingness to rid himself of negative life influences leaving him a disgrace in the eyes of many who previously hero-worshipped him.
The penny finally dropped last year for Cousins.
Sitting in a cold, cramped jail cell for the sixth time in 13 years, the man known as ‘Cuz’ was ashamed and ready to atone.
Buoyed by the knowledge that getting clean and healthy was the key to being a good dad to his children, he soon started talking to Susan Backshell, a mental health support worker.
Cousins leaves the Fremantle Magistrates Court in Perth in 2017. Virtually untouchable and revered after winning a premiership in 2006, Cousins career quickly took a turn for the worse
Ben Cousins and Chris Judd of the West Coast Eagles celebrate their premiership victory in 2006
Ms Backshell managed to achieve what many previously had failed to do with Cousins – establish a positive connection and get in his head space for the right reasons.
She issued him a blunt ultimatum soon after they met: ‘Give your all, or forget it entirely’.
Since last year, he has volunteered at several events in and around Perth with Ms Backshell’s community group KALT Collective, acting as a beacon of hope for disadvantaged youths, addicts and reformed criminals.
‘Nobody actually knows what amazing stuff he’s doing,’ Ms Backshell said.
‘Everybody is willing to judge him, but this guy has worked his ass off to get to where he is today.’
The flow on effect has seen Cousins able to spend more time with his children – his son Bobby, 9, and daughter Angelique, 7.
Cousins is also ‘loving’ playing park footy with the Queens Park Bulldogs – despite his ‘dodgy’ hamstrings
Cousins battled an addiction to narcotics stretching as far back as 2006 when he was a professional AFL player (pictured on his documentary Such Is Life from 2010)
‘His kids are everything to him, he truly is an amazing dad. He’s phenomenal,’ Ms Backshell said.
‘And they adore him.’
Before his well-overdue epiphany, Cousins had been in and out of jail since 2010 on drug and domestic violence charges.
Ben Cousins credits Susan Backshell, (pictured right) a mental health support worker, for helping turn his life around
Ben Cousins has been in and out of jail six times, in a sad – and public – fall from grace – he is now determined to stay clean
He was also deregistered by the AFL in 2007 after bringing the game into disrepute, before eventually returning two years later with Richmond, albeit a shadow of the player he once was.
Determined his dark days are now finally over, Cousins has also developed an affinity with the Indigenous community in WA and has taken pride in developing relationships.
‘He’s absolutely a role model, an inspiration,’ Ms Backshell added.
THE TROUBLED LIFE AND TIMES OF BEN COUSINS:
1996 – Makes AFL debut with West Coast and is named the league’s Rising Star
2001 – Named club captain of West Coast at age 23
2002 – Breaks his arm falling down a flight of stairs at a nightclub months after punching his teammate Daniel Kerr
2005 – (May) Is quizzed by police about association with underworld identities
– (September) Wins Brownlow medal as the AFL’s best and fairest player
Cousins after the 2006 AFL Grand Final
2006 – (February) Swims across a Perth river to escape a booze bus
– (September) Wins AFL premiership with the Eagles
– (December) Is arrested after passing out in front of Melbourne’s Crown Casino and spends four hours in jail
2007 – (March) Suspended by West Coast after missing training session
– (April) Goes to a drug rehabilitation facility in the US
– (October) Revealed to have visited fellow Eagles legend Chris Mainwaring twice on the night he died of a drug overdose
– (October) Arrested and charged with drug offences that are later dropped
– (November) Eventually sacked by West Coast and banned from the AFL for one year
2008 – AFL re-registers Cousins and he is signed by Richmond
2010 – Retires from the AFL but releases autobiography and documentary
Cousins has been charged with drug possession and refusing a drug test in 2007, but the charges were later dropped
2015 – Arrested three times before leading police on a slow-speed car chase
2016 – (June) Spotted behaving erratically and directing traffic on a highway
– (October) In and out of court over drug offences and breaches a restraining order taken out by his ex-partner
2018 – (January) Released from jail on parole just 10 months into his sentence
He takes up a community support role with the West Coast Eagles – a requirement of his parole conditions
– (May): Reports emerge he hasn’t been seen at the club for a month
The club confirms the he told officials in April he no longer wanted the job
– (August) Arrested and charged with drug possession and breaching a restraining order
2019 – (February) He was fined $1,750 for possessing meth and hiding it up his anus while in jail
(March) Cousins pleaded not guilty to 14 offences in court, including breaching a family violence restraining order and a count each of aggravated stalking and threatening to injure, endanger or harm
(April) Cousins is arrested in Perth with a Cousins is released from jail on bail after eight months inside.
2020 – (March) Tell-all documentary Coming Clean goes to air – Cousins opens up about his meth addiction and time behind bars.
(April) Cousins is arrested in Perth after allegedly being caught with 2.5grams of methamphetamine while asleep beside his car.
He is remanded in custody after pleading guilty to possessing methamphetamine and incurring a $1500 fine.
He is also charged with aggravated stalking of his ex-partner, Maylea Tinecheff.
(October) Cousins pleads not guilty to aggravated stalking and 20 counts of breaching a family violence restraining order relating to his ex-partner.
(November) He is convicted of stalking his ex-partner but acquitted by a Perth court of restraining order breaches. He is sentenced to seven months jail, which is backdated to April.
He is released from Hakea prison in late November.
2021 – Cousins returns to the footy field playing for the Queens Park Bulldogs in Perth’s Metro Football League