Ben Cousins’ place among the greats of the game has been emphatically rejected.
The former West Coast Eagles skipper is eligible to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, that honour however won’t be going ahead any time soon.
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A report from The Age’s Jake Niall noted the 2005 Brownlow Medal winner will not be a part of the 2024 class.
Furthermore his name isn’t likely to come into consideration anytime soon with Niall reporting “the committee has not seriously debated Cousins as a prospective member”. It was noted Cousins’ past was a factor.
His induction into the Hall of Fame has long been in question due to spending seven months in jail in 2020 after repeatedly breaching a restraining order and allegedly threatening to kill his former partner and mother of his children, Maylea Tinecheff.
The move comes less than a week after Wayne Carey was blocked by the AFL from being elevated to legend status at the NSW Football Hall of Fame ceremony.
Carey’s planned induction sparked widespread outrage and was set to take place on the same weekend the AFL honoured victims of gender-based violence.
The former star midfielder has become a media personality in recent times and opened up about his personal life following years of struggle with drug abuse.
In an appearance on Channel 7’s The Front Bar, Cousins reflected on his early life following his father Bryan’s career before eventually becoming one of the game’s biggest names.
However, his impressive career has been followed by shadow of a number of off-field incidents that turned his life upside down.
The Brownlow Medallist and premiership player was sacked by the Eagles in 2007 after he was arrested for drug possession and handed a 12-month suspension by the AFL.
He spent time in prison after being found guilty of stalking Tinecheff, his ex-partner and the mother of the pair’s two children, in 2020.
Earlier, in 2018, Cousins also served 10 months of a 12-month prison sentence for stalking Tinecheff.
The 45-year-old now says he’s on the right path. He is now reading the news for Seven in Western Australia, and is set to appear in the latest edition of Dancing With The Stars.
The Front Bar panel made it clear his appearance on the show wouldn’t be all about his past struggles, but Cousins appeared more than happy to share a snippet of his life after working hard to rebuild himself.
“I wish it hadn’t had to have taken this long, and had to run its course the way it did,” he said.
“But yeah, it’s nice to be working and busy, have some real ambition back, and, you know, just connected back in with friends, family, and even on a community level, you know. Life’s never been better, to be honest.”