Top-secret AFL report concludes Ben Cousins’ aided by West Coast management failures
A SECRET AFL report’s author concludes Ben Cousins’ descent into drug addiction was abetted by West Coast management failures, as the fallen star repeatedly assured officials “everything was all right”.
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“I AM no saint. I am the first to admit I have experimented with most drugs, but I can assure you that I am on top of the issue.”
Those were the words a brash Ben Cousins delivered to club officials when quizzed on his off-field antics, according to AFL special investigator William Gillard.
But Gillard’s report into the drug culture at West Coast exposes a life that was spiralling out of control due to the abuse of illicit substances.
He details Cousins’ descent into addiction which, he concludes, was aided and abetted by the management failures of the football club.
Cousins was the only West Coast Eagles player to admit to Gillard that he had ever used illegal drugs, despite the fact that John Worsfold had already publicly admitted that at least five of his players were on drugs.
But whenever questioned by Eagles chiefs about his lifestyle, Cousins repeatedly assured them that “everything was all right” and he could look after himself.
Eagles stars had for years been worshipped in Perth, and even as a teenager Cousins was feted as a superstar.
He kicked two goals on his debut for the team in 1996, aged just 17, and before he reached 20 he had been dubbed “football’s answer to Brad Pitt”.
“The players enjoy star status and much attention in public,” Gillard says.
“Some of the players, notably Ben Cousins, were described as having ‘rock star’ status. The players are forever in a fishbowl environment in Perth … Such adulation breeds a degree of arrogance and to some extent a belief in one’s infallibility.”
Certainly by 2001, it was apparent that Cousins was mixing with the wrong company, such as convicted heroin dealer John Kizon and brutal bikie Troy Mercanti, in Perth’s sleazier nightspots.
In that year, a police source alerted the club to a taped conversation allegedly linking Cousins and Michael Gardiner with underworld figures, while they are alleged to have caught up with Kizon at Crown casino during Grand Final week.
Gillard says in 2002 several reliable sources including members of the police force informed the club that some players — including Cousins and Gardiner — were taking drugs and mixing with underworld figures.
It is then noted that they had assured club officials that they could look after themselves.
In the same year, Cousins and Gardiner drank with Kizon in Melbourne after a game against Carlton, while at “Mad Monday” drinks Cousins ended up with a broken arm after a fight with Daniel Kerr.
“I have no doubt that in 2002, the culture was to minimise the fallout and treat the players leniently,” Gillard says in a stinging rebuke to the club.
“Cousins and Gardiner had been warned to distance themselves from Kizon and despite this, Cousins was not penalised for drinking with Kizon.
“One cannot overlook the context of the events of the previous year in relation to this and also the fact that members of the police force had informed the coach of the club that it was believed that Cousins and Gardiner were taking illicit drugs.
“The next incident which involved Gardiner resulted in him being dropped to the WAFL for breaching a curfew.
“Apparently he was not penalised for the assault.
“The ‘Mad Monday’ incident involving Kerr and Cousins was investigated but nothing was done.
“On any view, it appeared that both had been drinking to excess and the circumstance of how Cousins broke his arm was not clear.
“The club took no stand against the two players. One was the captain and both were star players. The club’s inaction sent the wrong message.
“Looking at the history right up to April 2007, it is clear that the club did not, in relation to some incidents, take a sufficiently strong stand in relation to the conduct and impose a penalty which would have sent a message to all players — that misconduct off the field would be severely dealt with.
“Again, it can be said that it was a big step to suspend a player and on two occasions the club did that, namely (name deleted for legal reasons) ... and Gardiner in mid-2006.
“But, in my opinion, a stronger stand should have been taken in relation to Cousins. Although he was stripped of the captaincy at the beginning of 2008, in my view he should have been suspended for a substantial period.”
Gillard says that not everyone at the club approved of Cousins’ special treatment.
“A number of players indicated they resented the fact that the club adopted what apparently was a lenient approach to Cousins over the years,” Gillard remarks.
And Cousins’ immaturity, even at the age of 28, is highlighted by Gillard in a section on players’ behaviour in a respect and responsibility session in early 2007. “The report card revealed that the West Coast Eagles were the worst-behaved group and the most difficult to deal with of any AFL club,” he says.
“Some players showed no respect to the presenters, some were arrogant and tried to disrupt the training.
“The worst-behaved were Cousins, (Daniel) Kerr and (Michael) Braun.
“Cousins was regarded as quite immature and distracting and demonstrated no leadership. Kerr had great difficulty in concentrating and left the session on a number of occasions. Some players cracked in-house jokes.”
“The next program was the Drugs Policy training presented by the AFL’s doctors …
“Again the report card was that the player group was the most difficult of all to deal with among all AFL clubs, that the players had a very different attitude to any other club.
“Little respect was shown to those who were presenting the program, and in particular the attitude of some senior players was disappointing. The major protagonists were Cousins and Kerr, and other players supported their attitude.
“It was noted that the club needed to take control of its players’ leadership group and needed help to address leadership issues.”
It was too late.
Ten years ago this week, Cousins was suspended indefinitely after a drug test, which he had turned up late for. He then went on a three-day drugs binge and shortly after checked himself into a Californian rehabilitation facility.
In July 2007, he was able to return, with a 38-possession game against Sydney, but tore his hamstring in the qualifying final against Port Adelaide on September 7.
On October 17, the club cut him loose after he was arrested for drug possession and refusing to submit to a blood test, just over two weeks after his mentor Chris Mainwaring — an Eagles legend and Perth TV personality — died from overdosing on a cocktail of drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and anti-depressants.
A two-year stint at Richmond could not stop Cousins’ downward spiral.
He was in court again yesterday on stalking and drugs charges. He was arrested at a Melville home last month, and allegedly had eight grams of ice and told officers he had a high tolerance.
A violence restraining order had been taken out by his former partner Maylea Tinecheff, with whom he has two young children.
BEN COUSINS IN COURT: ‘I DON’T WANT TO QUIT DRUGS’
Since leaving the game, Cousins has sought help at several rehab clinics but has never been clean for more than a few months and had binged for up to eight days at a time. He was committed by doctors to a mental health unit under police escort in January 2012.
Cousins led police on a slow-speed car chase in early 2015, before it emerged he had been sent to a mental health facility after he was found inside an SAS barracks.
In June 2016, police intervened when Cousins attempted to direct highway traffic.
And last November, Cousins failed to appear in court on charges of breaching a violence restraining order and possessing ice, and the following day he crashed into a truck.
AFL’S TOP SECRET EAGLES REPORT SPECIAL:
DRUGS, LIES AND COVER-UPS: WEST COAST SCANDAL EXPOSED
BETRAYAL OF A DUTY OF CARE: WEST COAST CHIEFS LASHED OVER TOXIC CULTURE
AFL URGED TO SET UP INDEPENDENT BODY TO PROBE MISCONDUCT
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’
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