Nick Bendel
Special- and he knows it
November 30th 2008 04:58
As recently as a week or two ago, it appeared inevitable that somebody would make a play for the former Eagle. In a competition as evenly balanced as the AFL, in which every participant is conditioned to act pragmatically, it seemed unthinkable that there would not be at least one board unable to resist the siren song of a Brownlow Medallist. After all, the whole lot of them are already bedevilled with footballers behaving badly, whose misdemeanours they are adept at turning a blind eye to. So what’s one more cretin added to the list?
And this is not just any cretin we’re talking about. Cousins is one of the most brilliant players of his generation, a player who, if he had been at the peak of his powers last season, could conceivably have helped an outfit such as the Swans or Crows or Kangaroos make the jump from also-rans to premiers. With his tireless, skilful and inspirational work in the middle of the ground, this is the sort of athlete who can make bad teams good, and good teams great. Nobody should forget the difference that one of his few peers, Chris Judd, made when he relocated from West Coast to Carlton. The Blues of 2007 came second last and finished the year with 11 consecutive losses; the Blues of 2008 nearly made it through to September. That is the difference that a superstar can make.
Yet two of the also-rans- the Saints and Magpies- eventually ruled out drafting Cousins. So did the Lions, who almost made the top eight and who fancy themselves as genuine contenders over the next few seasons. St Kilda’s management group agonised over its decision, before concluding that he was too great a risk. Collingwood hired a private detective and spoke to Christine Nixon (the chief commissioner of the Victorian Police), before concluding that he was more trouble than he was worth. And now Brisbane, having weighed up the numerous pros and cons, has concluded that a gamble on the 30 year old is more likely to fail than succeed. How could it come to this?
The most important point to make is that Ben Cousins was rejected for pragmatic, rather than moral, reasons. Much consideration would have been given to his drug problem, his age, his suspect hamstring, his effect on sponsors and the amount of time he has spent out of the game. Yet if media reports are to be believed, it seems that St Kilda, Collingwood and Brisbane were of the view that his immense talent trumped all those negatives. In other words, no matter how many mistakes he may have made, and no matter how unprincipled it may have looked, they were willing to offer him a contract. But just when it seemed as though Cousins was about to get what he wanted, his hubris came to the fore, tipping the balance the other way.
That Cousins has an enormous ego, that Cousins has a disregard for authority, is well known. Such excesses of personality would have been grudgingly tolerated. However, when the fallen star shaved his head and body hair in order to avoid a drug test that the AFL had just imposed as a condition of his return- an act that was seen not as a display of fear, but breathtaking contempt- he went too far. Footy clubs are notoriously indulgent; they just want to win, and damn the consequences. If you’re blessed with talent, it takes an awful lot to put them offside. It says something about his character that Cousins seems to have put all 16 clubs offside.
Perhaps they considered the examples of Wayne Carey and Mark Bosnich, two other fallen stars. Carey is the most like Cousins, and not merely because they come from the same sport. The King, as he was so aptly known, had a monumental ego. If he wanted something, he took it; if he felt like sleeping with his best mate’s wife, he did it. Nobody ever said no to the King. Such arrogance was barely dented during his time out of the game, when he exhibited nothing other than supreme confidence that his services would be in demand whenever he chose to return. Then followed an unhappy time at Adelaide, where Carey discovered that no amount of confidence could alter the fact that he was an injury-prone footballer on the wrong side of 30. Sound familiar?
Bosnich, however, did things differently. Despite his healthy self-regard, he was prepared to accept a truth that neither Carey nor Cousins could- that the time had come to swallow his pride. Before making his comeback at the start of this A-League season, Bosnich confessed to countless mistakes, offered numerous apologies, begged to be given another chance, and offered profuse thanks when it was. While the two AFL men acted as though they had a God-given right to return to their game, the goalkeeper acknowledged that he deserved nothing more than the ignominy in which he had been living. It was therefore appropriate that not only should he have been thrown a lifeline by the Central Coast, but that his hunger and humility should have allowed him to excel when it was.
For all the talk about sponsors and drugs and hamstrings, it is reasonable to deduce that the primary factor when it came to assessing Cousins was attitude. Nobody has been fooled by the half-hearted expressions of contrition he has occasionally offered during his exile, which have presumably come at the urging of his manager, Ricky Nixon. He has never looked the slightest bit sorry for what he has done, and he has never been able to conceal the sense of entitlement that burns deep within. During his stint at the Eagles- just like during Carey’s years at the Kangaroos- it was made clear to him, through words and deeds, that he was a special person, that he was somebody whose innate skills placed him above the rules.
Unfortunately, the same arrogance that helped Cousins to dominate on the field has now come back to bite him. If an athlete in his position is to make a successful comeback, he needs to be humble enough to recognise his past misdeeds and to embrace an unassuming approach. Like Bosnich, he needs to accept that he is no longer special. Yet the message Cousins has sent to the AFL clubs is the exact opposite.
So, is that the end for Ben Cousins? While cold logic suggests that it must be, cold logic and ambitious sporting clubs rarely go hand in hand. Ricky Nixon has probably spoken a few harsh words to his client over the last few days, which Cousins, having suffered the humiliation of being so emphatically rejected, has surely never been more willing to heed. The result may be a concerted campaign between now and the pre-season draft, in which Nixon pleads for the poor fellow to be given another chance, and the egomaniac assures everybody that he has learned from his mistakes. One of the AFL’s ambitious clubs may then allow itself to be convinced, and make a play for the former Eagle. Should that happen, it is difficult to say how successful a comeback would be. But of one thing we can be certain: it will only confirm in Cousins’s mind that he is very special indeed.
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