Disgraced former football player Ben Cousins tried selling the Brownlow Medal he won in 2005 to buy drugs, a friend said following the ex star’s arrest on Wednesday.
Cousins, 40, appeared in court just hours after being arrested outside the home of the mother of his children, Maylea Tinecheff, in Canning Vale, south of Perth.
Prior to the former West Cost Eagles captain’s arrest, he told his father, Bryan, who has been looking after the medal, he needed the valuable item to secure a bank loan, a friend told Herald Sun.
‘He tried to sell his Brownlow … but he doesn’t even have it. His dad has the Brownlow in safekeeping,’ the unidentified source said.
Disgraced former football player Ben Cousins (pictured) tried selling the Brownlow Medal he won in 2005 to buy drugs, a friend said following the ex star’s arrest on Wednesday
The West Cost Eagles captain told his father, Bryan, who has been looking after the medal (pictured), he needed the valuable item to secure a bank loan, according to a friend
‘He said he needed it to guarantee a bank loan, but why would he need a bank loan? He doesn’t have any property, he doesn’t have a business.’
The friend alleged Cousins returned to using drugs shortly after he was paroled in January, saying when they spoke weeks ago ‘he couldn’t even speak English’.
‘He’s a nightmare. I feel sorry for his kids,’ he said.
The explosive allegations followed claims Cousins contacted AFL stars requesting they return memorabilia, the publication reported.
The court heard on Wednesday Cousins allegedly held a screw driver up to Ms Tinecheff before threatening to ‘bury her alive’.
The unidentified source said Cousins (pictured with father, Bryan) ‘tried to sell his Brownlow … but he doesn’t even have it. His dad has the Brownlow in safekeeping,’
The friend alleged Cousins (pictured) returned to using drugs shortly after he was paroled in January, saying when they spoke weeks ago ‘he couldn’t even speak English’
Police charged the AFL great with a total of 16 offences including possessing 13 grams of methylamphetamine, which they allege he hid in a plastic bag in his anus.
A distraught Cousins could be heard tearfully telling his lawyer ‘I can’t go back there’ as the magistrate denied his bail application.
The court earlier heard how just weeks before his arrest Cousins allegedly made a number of threats to Ms Tinecheff, including he would ‘kill her’ if she didn’t let him see their two children.
Ms Tinecheff reportedly collected Cousins in her BMW and took him to lunch to talk about their children, when he allegedly became aggressive.
‘I’m going to kill you. Take your life, your freedom and the things you love the most,’ the court heard he said.
Cousins screamed and cried after he was refused bail during a court appearance on Wednesday (Pictured: One of the last known photos of Cousins, posing with a fan on the streets of Perth in early August)
Cousins, 40, appeared in court on Wednesday just hours after being arrested outside the home of his ex-girlfriend Maylea Tinecheff at Canning Vale, in Perth’s south
‘(I’ll take the children) where you will be able to hear them, but not be able to get to them.
‘The only way for me to see the kids is to have you knocked off. You have one week to rectify this.’
Cousins was released from jail in January, just 10 months into a one-year sentence he was serving for breaching a violence restraining order taken out by Ms Tinecheff.
The court heard on Wednesday he allegedly breached the restraining order multiple times over the past fortnight.
Speaking during his court appearance, the tearful father-of-two claimed he was ‘not a threat’ to anyone and revealed how he missed his children.
A prison van took Cousins from Armadale Magistrates Court on Wednesday, after his bail was refused
The AFL champion (pictured) is facing 16 charges relating to drug offences, breaching an AVO and threatening to injure or endanger his former partner Maylea Tinecheff
‘I am the victim in this. To be the subject of ridicule and embarrassment, and I know I’ve brought a lot of that on myself, but I don’t act out in violence,’ Cousins said.
‘I have been very late in maturing, and I’ve realised that. In the last six months I have had very little contact with my children.
‘I still haven’t gone back to my old ways… I tried to go through the appropriate channels (to see them) but it’s not easy.
‘I beg you I beg you I’m not a threat. Every day I close my eyes when the sun goes down and I spew that it’s another day I’m not going to be with my children.
‘Someone in my situation, you should use it as an example of hope, that things will work out. Not the opposite.’
During his appearance in the Armadale Magistrates Court, the court heard allegations that in custody on Tuesday night police found 14 grams of methylamphetamine hidden in a plastic bag lodged in Cousins’ anus
A distraught Cousins, who was only released from jail in January, could be heard in the court telling his lawyer Michael Tudori (pictured): ‘I can’t go back there’
Despite the advice of his lawyer, Cousins opted to make an application for bail and told the court he recently applied to work at Perth Casino in the kitchen.
‘I need you to understand I am making an effort. I am in the process of starting a job,’ he said.
‘I was rung about that yesterday actually.’
On Tuesday evening police arrived at Ms Tinecheff’s home and arrested the former footballer.
After being taken into custody officers performed a routine search during which it is alleged they found 13 grams of methylamphetamine hidden in a bag in his anus.
A prison van carrying Cousins arrives at Armadale Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning
When officers asked Cousins to remove the bag he agreed before allegedly trying to push it further inside of himself.
He later had to be taken to hospital to have it surgically removed by doctors.
Weeks earlier Cousins happily posed for photos with football fans on Perth’s streets.
Among them was an Uber driver who was apparently such a big fan of the footy star he allowed him to ride for free.
In the latest chapter to the AFL star’s controversy-filled life, police revealed he had been homeless in recent times.
WA Police said in a statement: ‘Around 6.12 last night, a man was taken into custody by police at a house in Canning Vale in relation to another matter.
Police also revealed that Cousins (pictured) had been homeless in recent times, despite being bailed to the home of his parents after his release from jail
‘It will be alleged that while in custody, officers searched the man and 13 grams of methylamphetamine was located.
‘A 40-year-old man of no fixed address has been charged with possession of a prohibited drug with intent to sell or supply, threats to injure, endanger or harm any person, two counts of beached family violence restraining order or violence restraining order.’
After his release from jail in January, Cousins was offered a job with the West Coast Eagles in a ‘community and game development’ role.
But it was revealed in May he was no longer in the role, after reportedly failing to turn up for work on multiple occasions.
Cousins has previously spoken in depth about his struggles with drug addiction, and in a 2010 documentary revealed the extent to which he used drugs during his career.
‘I’m a drug addict, just flat-out. Yeah, I was drug-f**ked,’ Cousins said in a 2010 documentary on his life
‘I’m a drug addict, just flat-out. Yeah, I was drug-f**ked,’ Cousins said.
‘It was fast, it was good. They were good times. Alcohol wasn’t the big thing for me at the time. It was all about drugs for me.
‘I wouldn’t have butter on my toast, let alone a truck load of beer… (but) I’d take drugs and I would train and f***king train and obsess and play good footy.
‘I knew that at the end of that one week block, two week block or sometimes on the month, I would start to absolutely annihilate and launch into as much drugs as I could.’
The Brownlow Medal winner retired from AFL in 2010.
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
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
Cousins after the 2006 AFL Grand Final
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
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
2017 – Jailed for one year for breaching restraining order by calling his ex-lover thousands of times
2018 – (January) Released from jail on parole just 10 months into his sentence
– (August) Arrested and charged with drug possession, and breaching restraining order
Source: AAP