Ben Cousins opens up on fresh start after leaving prison

A BARELY recognisable Ben Cousins has spoken for the first time since walking out of a Perth prison, saying he is determined to stay off drugs and reconnect with his two children.

BEN Cousins is in a buoyant mood as he begins trying to rebuild his shattered life.

Cousins, 39, has spoken for the first time since walking out of Perth’s Acacia prison 10 days ago, determined to stay off drugs and reconnect with his two children.

Sporting a rugged jailhouse beard and long hair, the Brownlow Medallist is barely recognisable from his Australian Football League premiership playing days with the West Coast Eagles.

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Ben Cousins kicks a second quarter goal the 2006 Grand Final.

A barely recognisable Ben Cousins after he was released from jail. Picture: Channel 9

But he looks happy and sober as the Herald Sun asks him how he was doing.

“Yeah, good. Good as gold, brother,” he says.

Cousins is staying at the family home on the Swan River as he looks to spend more time with son Bobby, 6, and daughter Angelique, 4, and start a job at the Eagles. “I’m all right,” he says.

Family and friends have been praying the fallen Eagle can stay on track after serving 10 months’ jail for stalking his ex-partner, Maylea Tinecheff, and for drug possession.

“He’s had a lot of prayers. Please, God, he will be all right,” one relative told the Herald Sun.

“She (Ms Tinecheff) is fine. The kids are all right. They’re stable and happy.

“We wish that he gets on with his life and that he’ll be OK. It’s a horrible thing, addiction,” the relative said. “He’ll come out the other end, I’m sure of it.”

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The children visited Cousins at his parents’ home on the day of his release.

He appeared over the moon to be with them: pictures showed him throwing them in the air in celebration.

Cousins must remain at the family home and submit to regular drug tests until his parole ends on February 24.

Friends believe that when he was jailed for subjecting his ex-partner to what the magistrate called “nine months of terror”, he may finally have hit rock bottom.

Cousins had texted Ms Tinecheff up to 103 times a day, making more than 2000 attempts to contact her between October 2016 and his arrest last February, despite a restraining order.

When arrested he was caught with 8g of methamphetamine. A court heard that at the rate of his drug use at the time, that would have lasted him only four days.

Cousins’ lawyer told the court his client had contacted Ms Tinecheff because he was desperate to see his children.

It was this that had led to his erratic behaviour.

Ben Cousins is in a buoyant mood as he begins trying to rebuild his shattered life. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

While in prison, Cousins completed some rehabilitation programs and began to play tennis every day.

Those close to him don’t want to impose unrealistic expectations on him.

They know that beating his decades-long drug addiction is a day-by-day challenge. Cousins has been clean before, for varying periods.

He has entered rehabilitation at The Cabin, a specialist clinic in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and he also sought help at the Summit clinic in Malibu, California.

Jarrod Weir, a drug counsellor at The Cabin, said there was hope for Cousins, but he needed to work hard.

“Having a really good family support base is fantastic,” he said. “And his kids’ relationship is a factor.

“There’s no overnight treatment. You have to work at it. It’s not uncommon to have multiple relapses.

“It’s not uncommon for people who have been clean for 20 years to relapse,” Mr Weir said.

Ben Cousins is lifted on his Tiger teammates’ shoulders as he leaves the ground in 2010. Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty

Ben Cousins must remain at the family home and submit to regular drug tests until his parole ends on February 24. Picture: AAP/Richard Wainwright

He said managing to remain clean of drugs in jail was a positive sign, but Cousins needed to be aware of the reasons he was staying clean to build a new, stable life.

West Coast, which was criticised for its handling of a drug problem during its 2006 premiership reign, has thrown Cousins a lifeline.

Chief executive Trevor Nisbett, saying the club wanted to help Cousins “resurrect his life”, offered him a role in the community and game development department.

A secret report by former Victorian Supreme Court judge William Gillard, delivered to the Eagles in 2008, had criticised Nisbett.

The report, published by the Herald Sun last year, revealed there had been a “cover-up approach ... without confronting the real cause and seeking to eradicate it”.

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Ben Cousins and then-partner Maylea Tinecheff in 2011. Picture: Daniel Wilkins

Cousins has not been able to hold down a job since his retirement from football in 2010, following a stint at Richmond.

He has even struggled to keep a roof over his head, living out of a backpack and couchsurfing between friends’ homes and the next party.

Bikies and drug-dealers became his “friends”.

Some of them still ask for his number, saying they can “help” him.

His father Bryan, who battled depression as he tried to do what he could for his son, opened up on Ben’s troubles at a book launch last year.

“I’m probably as hopeful as I can be that he is talking seriously about how he can conduct his life when he gets out (of prison) and try to make a change in his life,” Mr Cousins said.

“That’s still to be done,” he said. “I’m not for one minute convinced that will happen.

“But he’s doing some good things, and has said some things ... that he wants structure in his life.

“He’s got two beautiful kids. They haven’t to this stage been enough for him,” Mr Cousins said.

“I’m just hoping there will be some good news ahead.

“But we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.

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