Ben Cousins

[NicoNicoNico]

I don't think he has any concrete plan in place at the moment. Some may disagree with me but the vibe i have sensed is he will train, if he is dominating at training he will play, otherwise he will wait until the end of the year and hope he gets drafted. You can tell the guy wants to save face and there is an ego doing a lot of decision making...

Sickening thing is,

Can you imagine a midfield of Sandilands, Cousins, Palmer, Ibbotson.... With Hinkley more developed and a Daniel Rich if we are lucky...Pav would kick 100 easy if cousins was consistently getting his hands on the pill

Nearly makes you want to sell your soul... Nearly

I think consistently getting his hands on the pill was the problem.

 

[Memories]

Cousins would be nothing more than an injury prone liability. I'm glad Harvey has quashed all talk of drafting him.

Why do... birds... suddenly appear.... every-time..... you are near.

What I find funny is how it seems my decisions are nearly always followed by the club. I guess using reason and logic is kind of universal... who'dda thunk it.

 

[samseenee]

I only ask this just as a by thought: Would Ben want to come back to Perth?

 

[Memories]

I only ask this just as a by thought: Would Ben want to come back to Perth?

From the interview he didn't rule Perth out, in fact it almost seemed, to me at least, that he would prefer to stay in Perth but his odds were higher in melbourne to be recruited.

As people have said , he has drug mates in Queensland, in Sydney, in Melbourne and in Perth. It's not like he can escape to any place in the country (besides maybe Adelaide?) and not see people he doesn't know from that lifestyle.

From his perspective I think he is loathing the West Coast Eagles since they sacked him without any real cause at the end of last year (being out in public with your shirt off is a sackable offense now? don't go to the beach). To him it might be the best actual course to play for the Dockers and destroy the eagles in the derbies and help us to win the 2009 premiership.

 

[Lach72]

With the amount of deadwood we need to trim I'm starting to warm to this idea, with strict conditions.
Any bullshit and he's gone, but he would possibly give us 2 years to groom some young players and we could be a bit more ruthless with the list.

 

[SupersonicDocker]

On the training track and in games, there is no questioning Cousins gut running. He could be a very good influence on our young mids coming up, however we may as well just erect a giant microscope outside the grounds for the general public to scrutinise us with if he comes.

Hasleby, Headland, Ibbotson, Palmer, Hinkley, Crowley and Cousins... All of a sudden the mid stocks don't seem to bare. Plus Cousins in the side would probably allow us to actually ease our next batch of midfield recruits into AFL football instead of tossing them into the deep end. We have been very lucky that Palmer has been able to do what he's done. He would go to another level with more freedom next year, that would indeed come from at least a Hasleby and Cousins running around...

I'm warming to this but not convinced....yet

Then again it would nice for the media to bag him instead of Pav when things aren't going to well ha.

 

[Memories]

Then again it would nice for the media to bag him instead of Pav when things aren't going to well ha.

Yep at the very least it will take the attention off every Freo player besides Cousins. Cousins can cope with it, has his whole life, may free our players up from the negativity ala Tarrant/Johnson/Bradley.

 

[mo palmer]

Not that phased whether we get him or not. He will probably go to Collingwood with Mick and ed-TV.
That said, this thread is a tad self-obsessed. Has any thought about the impact that playing in an up and coming team like Freo with a tonne of potential might have on Cuz and his mindset? Look at the revival of loud mouthed Aker. Sure Aker never went down the drug route, but he does draw a crowd when he opens his mouth and since joining the doggies he has overcome public and managerial dissaproval and played a key role in taking the doggies to the next level.
Personally watching Ibbot and Palmer cruising the wings and slaying defenders with run, reminds me of a young Cuz. Maybe exposing them to Cuz's training ethos could spark a change of culture for Freo and give Cuz a reason to play again and fight for a flag. Freo management needs to be open minded but sensible. No need to go all out to get him. He is still high risk and potentially a drain on resources and a massive distraction. But as we all know great risk can bring great reward. He is worth a second round pick and an airtight 1 year contract, but nothing more. I believe a returning Haze will be on par with Cuz as an overall package without the distraction and two-team-town hoopla.