Nick Bendel
Collingwood may be responsible for ending the Ice Age
September 23rd 2008 04:05
These will be just some of the clichés emanating from AFL clubs over the following weeks, as the race for Ben Cousins’s signature begins in earnest.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with such thoughts, they will stand in stark contrast to the emphatic statements those same clubs made when Cousins was deregistered by the league last year. Back then, when the possibility of a comeback by the Brownlow Medallist was far less certain, they were keen to distance themselves from him. He wouldn’t fit in with our team culture. It would send the wrong message to our youngsters. We demand the highest standards of our players. Only a handful of clubs was honest enough to concede that they would be keeping their options open- but even then, they were at pains to point out that they were doing so simply in the interests of due diligence, not because they imagined that the day might ever come when they would be in the market for such a troublemaker.
For so many reasons, the recruitment of Ben Cousins would be folly. This is a 30 year old, with a long history of selfish and unruly off-field behaviour. Furthermore, as Wayne Carey discovered, an aging footballer- even if he is a champion- will find it difficult to reacquaint himself with such a fast and rugged sport. Most importantly, there is the drug addiction, a cruel master that Cousins admits he will have to spend the rest of his life battling, and which could get the better of him at any moment.
Ah, but then there is the possible upside, the advantage that is so potentially large that some clubs will be unable to resist its siren song. An uncanny ability to pluck the ball out of a crowd, a talent for executing the most difficult skills, a remarkably capacious set of lungs, a refusal to concede defeat - why, this fellow could help us win a flag! With that realisation, all those annoying pieces of common sense are easily forgotten, because professional sport is ultimately governed by just one piece of logic: the most important thing is not taking part, but winning.
In the unseemly race for Cousins’s signature, it has been Collingwood that has emerged quickest from the blocks. We know this, because Eddie McGuire was at pains to talk down the club’s interest, while making a concerted effort to retain as much wriggle room as possible. “Ben, first of all, has to…prove that he’s not a drug addict anymore,” the Magpies’ president told SEN radio last week, which is “a fairly significant health issue,” and not easily achieved. “So I think while we all get excited about the football element of this, there’s a massive human element to be considered before anyone decides anything.”
As anybody who saw his appearance on The Footy Show last month (in the light of the troubles with Alan Didak and Heath Shaw) would be able to attest, McGuire is a passionate believer in redemption and second chances- and so too, he confided, is Mick Malthouse. Proof of that came just recently, when he all but confirmed that Didak would be staying at Collingwood, despite earlier indications that the repeat offender would be traded. “All things being equal,” the kindly president revealed, “you’d like to think that Alan will be at the club next year…He’s a good young fella and I think he has learnt a lot over the last six weeks.” Perhaps inadvertently, McGuire let slip that he also considered this top bloke to be “a very, very good footballer”, who was “contracted for two years”. So there you have it: if you can gather possessions and kick goals, Collingwood will offer you all the second chances you need.
Of course, when it comes to ruthless pragmatism, Collingwood hardly stands alone. North Melbourne has just sent Nathan Thompson into premature retirement, after going back on its earlier suggestion that it would offer him a new contract. The forward has never been the same player since injuring his knee, and so the decision was made to dump him. It was concluded that there had to be somebody out there who would be more productive, who would do a better job of gathering possessions and kicking goals. And so, for Nathan Thompson, there will be no second chances.
If both Thompson and Cousins were to play next year, it is conceivable that the former might end up having a better season. Rightly or wrongly, though, while none of the 16 clubs believes that the former Kangaroo would be able to help them win a premiership, there are bound to be a few who believe that the ex-Eagle would. Reading between the lines, it appears as though Collingwood is one of them. For all McGuire’s protestations that a return to football for Ben Cousins is not the black and white issue some make it out to be, only the most naïve would be surprised to see him turning out in those very colours in 2009.
| 56 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Subscribe to this blog
