Ben Cousins - what action should the AFL take?

[kgee]

There are serious problems at West Coast. Gardiner was involved in the wrong circles and getting rid of him helped. The likes of Cousins and Chick allegedly have done wrong as well.

That said, it was announced that Hawthorn had 3 players with serious drug issues that have thus far escaped scrutiny from the media. So yes, WCE have far more than I'd like to see, but it's not just limited to then. Just the media scrutiny is...

I'm not sure WA does seem to have a prevalent drug culture .... a friend pointed it out to me that a lot of the young guys in WA have a strong bent towards self destructive behavior and drugs...at first I kinda of disagreed we were working in the fishing industry, an industry thats riddled with drugs (presciption and otherwise) but I'm starting to sway towards his way of thinking as every season we'd be getting kids that were almost carbon copies of each other and they all seemed to take pride in heavy drug usage and getting "smashed"...and in my opinion more so than other places I've lived
So maybe it is part of western australia culture...I do know that it is the state with the highest prescriptions of medicines for Attention Deficit Disorder (spelling?)

 

[IFocus]

As a Perthie, I actually agree with it. Look at our two biggest cultural exports: David McComb and Kim Salmon.

Sheezz Chops whats a "Perthie" ? Its not catching is it might stay south if it is LOL

 

[explod]

"I get this sense that WA in general is somewhat of a 'maverick' state?"
Don't be fulled Prospector. If you think this is only a problem in WA, then you have too much bling around your head.
Watch out vics, "drugs are coming to a club near you, soon."
As Jackovic said last night on radio, " there are about 5 or 6 clubs in the same position as the Eagles were 3 years ago."

Drugs have been a cronic part of the youth scene for a decade or two now and growing as pointed out.

It reflects a state of dispair within the new social paradigm.

Spoke to a couple in their early twenties a few days ago representing Greenpeace. They were well presented and optomistic because they are on a cause and somehow see a way out of the earthly mess. Most young people do not. Subconsciously because we are for example not doing anything about global warming we are saying that we dont' give a stuff about the future, a future that belongs to the younger generation. So if the leaders and mentors have given up then there is nothing left but to party. We can speak of other subjects as analogies to support the argument, I am not just hooked on green issues.

Too much here to explain in a few lines anyway but you get the drift. The planet is dying and the younger generation are going with it. We will roadblock all the worlds freeways when it is too late. And I am an old conservative explod.

My heart bleeds for Cousins and all the other millions like him because they are our children and we have not collectively shown them the right path.

 

[Julia]

Not wanting to take the thread off subject but.....
What if the drug that the" 2 carloads of Major Crime Squad" detectives found was Diazepam... admittedly non-prescription, but from my limited knowledge a form of Valium used by addicts to help with bad withdrawl symptoms??? :sheep:
Cheers
..........Kauri

If he did in fact have any prescription only drug without the appropriate prescription then he would have to explain that one too!

 

[Julia]

Drugs have been a cronic part of the youth scene for a decade or two now and growing as pointed out.

It reflects a state of dispair within the new social paradigm.

Spoke to a couple in their early twenties a few days ago representing Greenpeace. They were well presented and optomistic because they are on a cause and somehow see a way out of the earthly mess. Most young people do not. Subconsciously because we are for example not doing anything about global warming we are saying that we dont' give a stuff about the future, a future that belongs to the younger generation. So if the leaders and mentors have given up then there is nothing left but to party. We can speak of other subjects as analogies to support the argument, I am not just hooked on green issues.

Too much here to explain in a few lines anyway but you get the drift. The planet is dying and the younger generation are going with it. We will roadblock all the worlds freeways when it is too late. And I am an old conservative explod.

My heart bleeds for Cousins and all the other millions like him because they are our children and we have not collectively shown them the right path.

Explod, I'm sad that you are so pessimistic about our young people. I know lots of great young people whose parents have given them great guidance and who are making a great success of their lives. You've given the Greenpeace couple as a good example. None of the young people I know are into drugs at all - too focused on their education and part time jobs, and often doing some voluntary work as well.

I understand what you are saying, but do worry that if we keep on generalising about all young people being drug crazed no hopers, they may take on that expectation. Someone much wiser than I once said:
"most folk behave pretty much as you expect them to".
If we continue to reinforce and appreciate the good stuff young people do, then that may be more useful than focusing on the ones who let their generation down.

Ah, but maybe I just have a panglossian view of the world!

 

[Sprinter79]

WA isn't the only state with a drug problem, and WCE aren't the only club with a drug problem.

Hawthorn has 3 players that have tested positive twice, and one of those who has since tested positive a 3rd time, and also has a charge of possession with intent to sell or supply hanging over his head.

There were clouds hanging over the Brisbane Lions during their rein, St Kilda have had their dramas too, don't let current events blind you.

The rumour that was doing the rounds over here in Perth since Cousins was first outed by the club was that Judd had made an ultimatim, either him or Cousins, he wouldn't play in the same team as Cousins next year. WCE certainly backed the wrong horse there.

Gardiner, Kerr, Cousins and Fletcher have all had high profile run ins with drugs, and its just unfortunate that the young players at the eagles have been tarred with the same brush. WCE should have in hind sight prohibited Cousins from playing this year, but the lure of another premiership was just to strong to resist.

As for those who are apologists for Cousins, and say that he is a nice guy, I went to school with him (back in primary school), and he was always arrogant, and always thought that because his dad was a footy player, he could get away with anything. He's never had to deal with the consequences of anything he's done, and he's never had to live in the real world. That's where his real problems have stemmed from.

 

[>Apocalypto<]

6 months in rehab, a piss test every week,

then a spot in the St Kilda mid field!

 

[Kauri]

If he did in fact have any prescription only drug without the appropriate prescription then he would have to explain that one too!

Possessing and or taking prescription drugs without a prescription is of course illegal... but when being pulled over by the uniforms for a driving offence does it warrant having TWO carloads of organised crime/major crime squad detectives turning up, being held and searched in front of the public for two hours in the middle of Perth, having the Australian press report it in such a way that implied that he was in possession of serious hard drugs when they knew that it was Diazepam, and having the eager Australian public jumping to conclusions and convicting him blindly(just read back through this thread for example). Where did all of the righteously indignant David Hicks supporters go? I see Daniel Chick comes in for a bit of a lashing as well (I wonder if he only supposedly succumbed to the Eagles drug culture after he returned from Hawthorn? Interestingly his car was also stopped and searched, his passenger was charged with possession of hard drugs and implements, Chick was not and has not been charged, despite his house being searched also.
If, as implied elsewhere in this thread, W.A is indeed a "maverick state", then I would humbly suggest that that term is not limited only to the general public.
P.S. I hear that tall poppies produce the best opium when cut down.
Cheers
.............Kauri

 

[chops_a_must]

Possessing and or taking prescription drugs without a prescription is of course illegal... but when being pulled over by the uniforms for a driving offence does it warrant having TWO carloads of organised crime/major crime squad detectives turning up, being held and searched in front of the public for two hours in the middle of Perth, having the Australian press report it in such a way that implied that he was in possession of serious hard drugs when they knew that it was Diazepam, and having the eager Australian public jumping to conclusions and convicting him blindly(just read back through this thread for example). Where did all of the righteously indignant David Hicks supporters go? I see Daniel Chick comes in for a bit of a lashing as well (I wonder if he only supposedly succumbed to the Eagles drug culture after he returned from Hawthorn? Interestingly his car was also stopped and searched, his passenger was charged with possession of hard drugs and implements, Chick was not and has not been charged, despite his house being searched also.
If, as implied elsewhere in this thread, W.A is indeed a "maverick state", then I would humbly suggest that that term is not limited only to the general public.
P.S. I hear that tall poppies produce the best opium when cut down.
Cheers
.............Kauri

You take your life in your hands when you refuse police orders... Why would they be sending him off to rehab again if he wasn't on anything?

They obviously had something on him, and probably have had for a long time. It was obviously a stuff up, or the passenger in Chick's car agreed to be the mule... Remember the phone conversations of a number of years back that they did nothing about? I think the cops have decided to get him, and that's that. And as with any other underworld figure, it will likely drag out for years...

 

[Kauri]

They obviously had something on him, and probably have had for a long time. It was obviously a stuff up, or the passenger in Chick's car agreed to be the mule... Remember the phone conversations of a number of years back that they did nothing about? I think the cops have decided to get him, and that's that. And as with any other underworld figure, it will likely drag out for years...

I remember the phone conversations, they (Cousins and Gardiner) talked to a couple of those reported underworld connections (actually Coffin cheater bikies.. not Perths answer to Vics Williams and Moran clans).. just after the bikies were involved in some serious trouble at a nightclub.. the uniforms did nothing because, well, what could they do, charge them with illegal use of a telephone??
They have decided to "get him", I just hope the public looks beyond the "sensationalised" gutter media we are continually fed and looks at the facts. Whilst we are remembering.. try Mallard, Button, Mickleburgs.... not to mention the Silver Fox and good old Hamburger Bob of course.
Cheers
.............Kauri

 

[Prospector]

If, as implied elsewhere in this thread, W.A is indeed a "maverick state", then I would humbly suggest that that term is not limited only to the general public.
P.S. I hear that tall poppies produce the best opium when cut down.
Cheers

Yes, that was my point, I wasnt just limiting this thought to footy players and others! So it could rightly apply to law enforcement people, politicians and the like!

And Cousins did refuse a blood test - if you are driving a vehicle (doesn't even have to have a motor, so a bike will suffice!) it is an absolute offence - ie there is no defence, and the penalty is as harsh as if you tested positive. So there has to be a conviction for that charge.

The tall poppy thing - that line gets trotted out when someone 'famous' gets caught doing things that society regards as being wrong.

For instance, Pat Rafter - has there ever been a harsh word said against him? Similarly James Hird, and several other AFL players. In entertainment - Rove, Kylie - they are there for the chopping but it has never happened! There are many, many people who are potential targets for 'tall poppy' but it is only the ones who transgress in some way who get the chop!

 

[Red Fatboy]

Who cares? I don't.

 

[petervan]

Read an interesting letter to the editor in todays advertiser where someone questioned Cousins is sacked after being caught with a valium and Richard pratt is still calton president after rorting tens of millions from the taxpayer.money still talks

 

[doctorj]

Richard pratt is still calton president after rorting tens of millions from the taxpayer.

As someone else pointed out, the media doesn't care about Hawthron, probably the same could be said for Carlton.

 

[Kauri]

Oh dear, what a surprise... :sheep:
Cheers
............Kauri

 

[kgee]

yeah I wonder if they did a blood test

 

[YELNATS]

What now? Just maybe the ham-fisted WA police are victimising Cousins. He's never been convicted of driving with or taking illicit drugs, has he? Is refusing to take a roadside test a heinous crime?

Will the WCE now reinstate him or put him on the open transfer list? Can Cousins sue the WCE for taking action without sufficient cause? There's a few struggling Vic clubs that can do with a marque player like him, but would they have him? Just maybe.

 

[hangseng]

Devoted his life too AFL in the public spotlight from day 1 pressures untold on a young man too constantly perform.
He needs help not punishment from the AFL !

Lucky_Country

The most understanding intelligent comment I have read.

And now that Tom Percy QC is on the case after the ridiculous false charge was withdrawn the AFL and Eagles are clearly in a legal hot seat.

The decision to sack Ben will come back to haunt the AFL and Eagles for the unprofessional way they handled this before the lad was even found guilty of anything. Despite what you may think Tom Percy is 100% correct, everyone has the right to presumption of innocence untill proven guilty, clearly a basic right of us all in this country denied Ben in this case.

The heading of the poll should include a public apology to Ben from Demetrou and Nisbet over the apalling way this matter was dealt with. My view of the Eagles and AFL management has lowered significantly over this.

 

[kgee]

I'm not really up to date with this but I know why valium is used ...it's a nice way to come down from a hard night out....and he's not young he's nearly 30 aint he....call me cynical but pamper to these people and they'll take you for a ride

 

[Bushman]

Unbelievable story this. Witch hunt and kangaroo court are two phrases that come to mind.

How the media can place so much pressure on an individual who is undergoing drug rehabilitation and has just lost one of his best mates in tragic circumstances beggars belief. Just because an individual is 'famous' does not make them lose the right to the presumption of innocence and just common humanity.

My views only. This world we live in is so black & white. It seems modern society can only swing between those we worship and those we vilify.

I, for one, hopes that Couso can overcome his demons and once more grace the football field in a way only he can. Now that would be human interest story I would find worthwhile to read.

As for all those journos stacking the timber to burn someone with an addiction at the stake, shame on you. What if he was your son?

Rant, rant, rant ...