Jon Ralph: Drugs cast cloud over Ben Cousins’ Brownlow
WHAT we now know about Ben Cousins and the side-effects of ice addiction means it’s impossible to build a case that he is still a worthy 2005 Brownlow medallist, writes Jon Ralph.
Jon Ralph
Don't miss out on the headlines from Jon Ralph. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Sydney Swans great: West Coast Eagles flag tainted
- Ex-Eagle to use top-secret AFL report in bid to beat jail time
SOMETIMES the superhuman feats that leave us gasping for breath are too good to be true.
Witnessing Ben Cousins’ 2007 return to football first-hand after his internal Eagles suspension seemed one of sport’s great comebacks.
Perched in the Subiaco press box, we watched in awe as Cousins returned after four months to run Sydney into the ground. Strutting off the bench to rapturous applause, the West Coast hero amassed 20 first-half touches then surged again with a dozen key possessions late as Sydney challenged.
The returning star finished the game with 38 possessions despite coming off a recent hamstring strain, with the Herald Sun match report charting how he “simply demolished half a dozen opponents”.
What we now know about Cousins and the side-effects of ice addiction has to throw into doubt his achievements. It is impossible to build a case that Cousins is still a worthy 2005 Brownlow medallist given all that has gone on since.
He won’t be stripped of the medal by the AFL (Daniel Kerr finished a vote back on 19 votes, with Nick Dal Santo third on 18). And he certainly won’t give it back himself, as Jobe Watson did last year.
But there are too many question marks to believe that Cousins was the fairest or the best that year. Why?
In 2015, while researching a series on ice in country and suburban football, a worrying trend began to appear. Local players were taking ice only minutes before taking the field and playing as if 10 feet tall.
As Geelong police senior-sergeant Tony Francis told the Herald Sun in March 2015, players on ice performed superhuman (that phrase again) feats.
“We know kids are using it as a performance-enhancing effect. The drug makes you like superman,’’ he said.
“It lets you run all day and you have good endurance. If it didn’t destroy your brain it would be great stuff.”
AFL DAILY: WE DID MAKE TOUGH CALLS, WORSFOLD SAYS
RITA PANAHI: PROTECT THE EAGLES BRAND, WHATEVER THE COST
SAM BUTLER: EAGLES DRUG PROBLEM DID NOT SWEEP THROUGH ENTIRE LIST
Western suburbs youth worker Les Twentyman was just as worried in that period.
“Heroin makes you drowsy. This is the opposite. It also takes away your fear, which is why there is talk about it being used in boxing matches.
“People reflect back to when Ben Cousins was playing — he could run out the entire quarter. People say it gives them the feeling they are Superman.”
By 2007 Cousins was heavily scrutinised and at least for that period likely drug-tested regularly.
But did training while addicted to ice, cocaine and speed earlier in his career allow him to reach new fitness levels he could exploit in games?
Consider that he won his Brownlow Medal by a vote, a year after West Coast won their premiership by a single point. We will never know how often he took drugs while training because by his own admission he was rarely tested.
Despite the regular claim he never tested positive, he actually did in 2002, when the illicit drug tests were anonymous and for statistical purposes.
Some will say unless there is concrete proof Cousins took performance-enhancing drugs on game day the premiership and Brownlow are untainted.
Yet after all we know about Cousins and his lies and addictions and relapses, he has lost the benefit of the doubt.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
MONDAY’S AFL’S TOP SECRET EAGLES REPORT SPECIAL:
WEST COAST SCANDAL EXPOSED IN TOP-SECRET AFL REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE GILLARD REPORT (PDF, OPENS IN NEW WINDOW)
BETRAYAL OF A DUTY OF CARE: WEST COAST CHIEFS LASHED OVER TOXIC CULTURE
AFL URGED TO SET UP INDEPENDENT BODY TO PROBE MISCONDUCT
WHAT BEN COUSINS SAID ABOUT HIS DRUG USE
EAGLES MIDFIELDER CHAD FLETCHER STRAPPED TO LAS VEGAS BED
WEST COAST FAILED ON KERR’S VALIUM SCAM
WEST COAST PREMIERSHIP PLAYER STEVEN ARMSTRONG LIED TO POLICE OVER CAR CRASH
CHRIS JUDD ‘OUT OF TOUCH ON DRUG POLICY’
EDITORIAL: BOMBSHELL DEMANDS SO MANY ANSWERS
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Buddy, Gaz, Dusty? The 10 best AFL players this century ranked
Think naming the team of the century was hard? Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane have narrowed that down to 10 and determined the defining player of the 21st century. HAVE YOUR SAY.
Ralph: Clubs need to ‘move with the times’ and end Mad Mondays
Six players and an umpire have been suspended across two post-season celebrations for offensive costumes in the past month. JON RALPH writes clubs and the AFL needs to ban them.