Ben Cousins

Ben Cousins - Benjamin Luke "Ben" Cousins is a former Australian rules footballer, best known for his 270-game career with West Coast and Richmond in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Ben Cousins Profile

Name : Benjamin Luke "Ben" Cousins
Birth : 30 June 1978 (age 33), Geelong, Victoria
Recruited from : East Fremantle (WAFL)
Height and weight : 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) / 78 kg (172 lb)

Debut : Round 4, 21 April 1996, West Coast v. | Geelong, at Subiaco Oval
Team(s) : West Coast 1996–2007; 238 games, 205 goals | Richmond 2009–10; 32 games, 12 goals

Career highlights
•    Rising Star Award 1996
•    All-Australian team 1998–99, 2001–02, 2005–06
•    International Rules Series 1999
•    West Coast Eagles captain 2001 (co-captain), 2002–05
•    West Coast Eagles best & fairest 2001–03, 2005
•    Brownlow Medal 2005
•    Leigh Matthews Trophy 2005
•    Western Australian Sports Star of the Year 2005
•    West Coast Eagles premiership team 2006

 

Cousins is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the top 50 players of all time. During his eleven years with West Coast, he won several of the league's highest individual awards including a Brownlow Medal, Most Valuable Player and a premiership medallion, was selected six times in the All-Australian Team and represented Australia in the International Rules Series. He was West Coast's club champion for four seasons and captain for five seasons.


His football career has been marred by highly-publicised off-field incidents involving recreational drug use, traffic convictions and association with criminal elements. On several occasions he was fined or sanctioned by the West Coast Eagles, culminating in his contract's termination on 17 October 2007. On 19 November he was banned from AFL for one year by the AFL Commission for "bringing the game into disrepute". Cousins was cleared to return to football in 2009 and was drafted by Richmond Football Club on 16 December 2008. He retired from the game at the end of the 2010 season. (google/wikipedia)