Ben Cousins tried to sell Brownlow Medal to fuel drug addiction

BEN Cousins has tried to get hold of his Brownlow Medal to sell it to pay for his ice addiction, with friends revealing the fallen Eagles star has been asking for the medal but his father Bryan has kept it from him.

EXCLUSIVE: FALLEN Eagles star Ben Cousins has tried to get hold of his Brownlow Medal to sell it to pay for his ice addiction.

Friends have revealed that Cousins has been asking for the medal, but his father, Bryan, has kept it from him.

Police say they arrested Cousins, 40, in possession of 13g of ice on Tuesday, after he menaced Maylea Tinecheff, the mother of his children, while holding a screwdriver.

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Ben Cousins with dad Bryan after he won the 2005 Brownlow Medal.

A Perth court heard on Wednesday that Cousins had also threatened to bury Ms Tinecheff in a park. A tearful Cousins pleaded that he not be sent back to jail, but the magistrate remanded him.

Distraught friends last night told the Herald Sun that they could see the latest arrest coming, as Cousins had been trying to sell possessions to buy drugs.

“He tried to sell his Brownlow … but he doesn’t even have it. His dad has the Brownlow in safekeeping,” a friend said.

“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.”

Friends had held hopes that Cousins would be able to kick his decade-long drug addiction, or at least minimise his use, when he was paroled in January. But he returned to his crippling vice, they said.

“The little green man came just two days after he finished his parole,” a friend said.

“He rang me a couple of weeks ago and he couldn’t even speak English.”

The friend said Cousins often became erratic and emotional while high, repeatedly trying to contact his two children through Ms Tinecheff.

“He’s a nightmare. I feel sorry for his kids,” he said.

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Ben Cousins leaves Fremantle police station in 2015.

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It is also understood some of Cousins’ relatives had been burgled in recent weeks. No charges have been laid.

Some items stolen, which had been pawned, were later returned to the victims, another source said.

There have been claims that Cousins had been sending threatening messages to other AFL stars seeking the return of memorabilia.

Cousins was seen earlier this month with former Eagles teammates Andrew Embley, Daniel Kerr, Adam Hunter and Quinten Lynch at a sportsman’s night at the Thornlie Football Club.

“He didn’t want to speak because he’s paranoid,” a friend said.

While he was on parole, Cousins spoke to the Herald Sun at his parents’ home in Perth, from behind a gate that was secured with a cable tie.

He said then that he was “good as gold”.

But friends said things had recently reached the point where they feared a call from police saying he was dead.

Eagles players Willie Rioli and Liam Ryan with former star Ben Cousins. Picture: Instagram /wjrioli17

“He was living with his parents but just disappearing for days on end,” a friend said.

“Going back to jail for over a year would be the best place for him. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but it might happen.

“It’s been a decade of this.

“We agreed and we’ve decided to give him some tough love in the last few months,” the friend said.

“There’s two ways a drug addict can respond: they can get their life together or they can keep pissing in everyone’s faces who are trying to help them … We all know how this is going to end up.”

Cousins’ father, Bryan, declined to comment to the Herald Sun on Wednesday.

“I can’t talk right now,” he said.

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