‘There is no quick fix. It’s the long game. You have to sit in it long enough to let progress, happiness come’: Ben Cousins

He famously brought footy into disrepute, battled drug and other demons and had stints behind bars, but ex AFL star Ben Cousins says he’s dancing into a happy life chapter with his latest move.

Former footy wild man Ben Cousins is winning his battle to rebuild his life.

“I can’t change what has happened in the past. All I can do is make the most of today,” Cousins, the one-time pin-up of the AFL, said.

“One of the things I have enjoyed is getting back my ambition.

“That was a big part of how I approached my life right through my footy career and I have got that back and I am enjoying being busy, having a bit on and throwing myself into different projects.”

Mercurial, intriguing and compelling, Cousins, 45, was an AFL superstar in the early 2000s.

He won the 2005 Brownlow Medal, was a West Coast Eagles club captain and premiership player and was selected six times for the All Australian team.

However his footy brilliance was tempered by an uncanny ability to find trouble and self-destruct.

Ben Cousins’ infamous topless arrest in October 2007. Picture: Sunday Times

Ben Cousins at Armadale Magistrates Court in December 2016. Picture: Richard Wainwright

There were partying blow outs, run-ins with the law, unwise choices of mates, substance abuse issues and a stint in rehab in Malibu.

He was delisted by the Eagles in 2007 and his off the rails behaviour saw him cop a 12-month ban from the game for bringing footy into disrepute.

He joined Richmond in 2009 and spent a couple of years with the Tigers before calling time on his playing days.

The road since then has been rocky, to say the least, with the ravages of substance abuse and stints behind bars dominating his story. In 2020 he was found guilty of stalking and intimidating his former partner.

But a new chapter is being written.

Ben Cousins the footballer was a superstar, winning a premiership and Brownlow Medal with the West Coast Eagles.

Ben Cousins retired from AFL in 2010 after 270 games.

Cousins is an emerging media star in Perth and has now signed on as a contestant on Channel 7’s celebrity studded reality show Dancing With The Stars.

Cousins has been at the top of various reality show’s wish list of contestants for years.

He has been approached to do SAS: Australia on several occasions and back in 2008 was all but signed to do Dancing before changing his mind.

The dance floor, he said, was far from his natural environment.

“I went through that whole electronic music time and the raves and festivals, that was probably the only time I have ever found myself on the dancefloor,” he said.

“The question (of doing Dancing) has been asked in the past.

“I’m just in a pretty good space at the moment and am in a position to take on some new challenges and this has come along and probably for the first time in quite a while I am in a position to give it a go. This worked for where I was at mentally and wanting to throw myself into something.”

Ben Cousins preparing for his stint on Dancing with the Stars. Picture: Philip Gostelow

The vast change in his life, one that started in 2021, is not lost on Cousins.

“It has been a battle to get back to where I am now. I wish it did not need to run its course or take nearly as long as it did, but it did,” he said.

“It is certainly not lost on me, or forgotten, the hard work and commitment that it has taken to get back to where I am.

“There is no quick fix. It is the long game. You just have to sit in it long enough to let progress or improvement or happiness come into your life.

“You don’t just do something and then all of a sudden it changes overnight. You have to sit with it, trust it and hand it over (and) surround yourself with people who are part of the solution rather than the problem.”

Cousins said he did not blame others for his lost years.

“I don’t attribute any of the situations that I found myself in to other people,” he said.

“It is about putting yourself in the position to allow good things to come into your life.

“Life for me in recent years has been about the things I am getting back into my life, not the things I am supposedly having to go without or deny myself. It is quite the opposite.

“For a long time part of the problem was letting what has happened in the past affect the opportunities that I was presented in the present.

“I can’t change what has happened in the past. I try not to get stuck in it too much, but it is also nice to remember where you have come from and how far you have come.”

Ben Cousins reads the News in Perth. Picture: Channel 7

Cousins said he needed to be busy and his dance card is certainly full.

He is in full training with his dance partner Siobhan Power and starts filming Dancing in Sydney late this month.

“Life is good at the moment. This is a new chapter, really,” he said.

“I am really grateful for the opportunity I have been given by Seven.”

He remains involved in football.

“At least three nights of the working week I find myself having a kick of the footy,” he said.

“I am down at the Perth Colts one night of the week and I am helping out with my young boy’s (his son, Bobby) team a couple of nights a week.”

Ben Cousins and dance partner Siobhan Power. Picture: Philip Gostelow

Ben Cousins arrives at the 2023 Brownlow Medal. Picture: Getty

Cousins said the Dancing With The Stars challenge brought with it a mix of excitement and fear.

“I have no dance experience at all,” he said.

“There is an element of excitement, but it is probably pretty close to fear as well; I think the fear of doing it.

“I have enjoyed it so far, the training, long sessions, long days, it hasn’t been work at all.

“I am lucky to have the partner I am dancing with. Obviously Siobhan is an amazing dancer in her own right, but she is really good at teaching and walking me through the process from the bringing and she is very patient. We are having a lot of fun.

“I am sure it will continue in that vein and if it does then I am a long way in front.”

Originally published as ‘There is no quick fix. It’s the long game. You have to sit in it long enough to let progress, happiness come’: Ben Cousins