The AFL's plans for world domination continue.

Collingwood will play West Coast in the first round of the 2009 pre-season cup in Cape Town in February.

Collingwood can now use "jetlag" as an excuse if they fail to fire for the first ten rounds of the season... I think they used it last season after they played a pre-season game in Dubai.

12 months ago, Ben Cousins was handed a 12 month ban by the AFL for “bringing the game into disrepute.” Today, Cousins satisfied the AFL commission that he has recovered from his drug addiction and he is now free to play again in 2009 if any club drafts him.

Despite his misdeeds, I feel sorry for Cousins. He has been extremely badly treated by the AFL and vilified in the media as if he was the only AFL player on drugs. The AFL recently revealed that there are 14 players on one positive strike and six sitting on two – one strike away from a ban. Last year, we learnt that, at one club, seven players were receiving treatment for drug addiction including two on two strikes. An AFL court injunction quickly suppressed the news and those seven have been allowed to continue playing. Cousins was a drug addict but not once did he ever test positive. One rule for Cousins, a different rule for the magnificent seven (and we know how well they’ve done lately).

Under normal circumstances, 16 clubs would be after Cousins. He is one of the truly great players in the recent history of the game – West Coast Premiership player in 2006, Brownlow Medallist in 2005, 6 time All Australian, 4 time club best and fairest, AFL Rising Star in 1996 and captain for 5 years. Earlier this year, as part of the AFL’s 150 year celebration, he was named as the 42nd best player in the history of the sport. However, only 3 clubs have shown an interest in Cousins – Brisbane, Collingwood and St Kilda, the latter 2, with their plodding midfields, arguably the 2 clubs who need him most. Collingwood have pulled out amidst rumours the AFL advised them to because of their “cultural problems.” Brisbane (or Sydney) would probably be a sensible destination but St Kilda are seen as the favourites to land him at odds of $1.40. Brisbane (at $2.80), though, have the upper hand in the draft order. Now that he’s been cleared, other clubs may enter the race potentially putting St Kilda in a very weak position after finishing 4th this year.

Sadly, the final decision on where he lands may lie with corporate sponsors concerned about brand image. It would be a tragedy if that was to deny him a comeback. I hope St Kilda draft him. The downside is limited – a low draft pick and he won’t command anything like the salary his talents deserve. If he transgresses once, he’s out the door. The upside is enormous. If he can recapture his form after a year out, St Kilda could be transformed.

Interesting situation, which reminds me that I was somewhat surprised to see that Ricky Williams is still playing for the Miami Dolphins.

What kinds of drugs was Cousins taking? My recollection is that the AFL tends towards cocaine and various types of speed.

Williams smoked industrial quantities of cannabis (and generally seemed uninterested in football, perhaps as a result).

He was supposedly addicted to ice. The real lowpoint was a 5 day cocaine bender in Los Angeles in October 2007. In fact, a fair chunk of his treatment was done in the US.

Melbourne Arab wrote:

QUOTE:
He was supposedly addicted to ice.

In the wrong game, then.

The Age reveals today that North Melbourne's football department have been thwarted in their bid to recruit Ben Cousins by the club's major sponsor Mazda. The coaching staff informed the directors that they wanted to pursue Cousins. The directors discussed the matter with Mazda who were "overwhelmingly uncomfortable" with the idea.

Last night, Brisbane pulled out of the race to sign Cousins because of "grave misgivings" from their sponsors.

St Kilda now appear to be the only club interested in Cousins. Captain Nick Riewoldt and recently retired players Robert Harvey and Aaron Hamill have publicly supported the recruitment of Cousins. However, it looks like the decision will be down to Jeld Wen Windows and Doors because this is clearly a sponsorship and not a sporting matter.

What a shame no club reckons consulting the supporter base rather than the corporates would be a good idea.

"Interesting situation, which reminds me that I was somewhat surprised to see that Ricky Williams is still playing for the Miami Dolphins."

Welllllll, "still playing" implies that he didn't actually take 3-4 years off to smoke weed around the world, moving to California to get medical marijuana then playing in the CFL, then smoke so much that he can't smoke anymore and thus went on a vegetarian healthfood diet after he became a Hindu, and proceeded to make an astonishing comeback after fucking off for nearly half a decade with a team that went 1-15 last year.

What's incredible, is that he's playing at all, and playing so well. Maybe more players should take 4-5 years off to violate the league's drug policy.

True Dat.

The thing is that I pay so little attention to the NFL that I didn't even realise that he had been gone in the interim. I just happened across a game when I was last in the States and initially wondered if it was the same guy.

The hilarious thing is the announcers saying "Ricky Williams with a 45-yard Touchdown late in the 4th quarter" like it's a normal thing, and not "Ricky Williams...HOLY SHIT, that POTHEAD who would rather retire and smoke sensi for four years instead of failing another drug test ? How the fuck is he still playing ? Damn, that pothead's still pretty good, look at this 45-yarder !"

I was looking forward to Saturday's national draft. It's not often you get to recruit one of the best players of the modern era with pick 83. Sadly, it seems the corporate sponsors have had their wicked way:

Press Release - 25th November 2008

ST KILDA DECIDES NOT TO PROCEED WITH BEN COUSINS

After much deliberation, the St Kilda Football Club Board and executive met today and made the decision not to proceed with pursuing Ben Cousins.

The Club conducted a complex five month review on Ben Cousins and its own playing group, resulting in a list management blueprint with a long term and strategic approach.

Saints CEO, Archie Fraser said, "We owed it to ourselves to undertake a rigorous and thorough review and have now made our decision. This is a decision that we didn't take lightly and we still believe that for the
right Club, Ben could well be a great opportunity."

The Club would like to thank Ben and his management for the professional manner in which they have conducted discussions during this period.

The Club's internal review remains the property of the Club and is therefore confidential.

There will be no further comment made on the matter.

Press release ends

Ben Cousins was overlooked in today’s national draft leaving the pre-season draft on December 16 as the only hope he has left of saving his career. It has emerged in the last couple of days that Cousins was so certain that St Kilda would draft him that he turned down 2 invitations to head to Brisbane for meetings with their coaching staff. After he was knocked back by the Saints, Cousins reportedly phoned Brisbane in desperation.

More detail has come out about why St Kilda decided not to pursue Cousins, two recent incidents having a big bearing on it. Firstly, having been declared drug free based on urine tests, Cousins turned up for a hair test. Unfortunately, he had shaved his head and had a body wax and the test could not be done. This arrogant “up yours” to the AFL was a remarkably stupid thing to do in his situation. Secondly, just over a week ago, Cousins attended the funeral of a Melbourne gangster and convicted drug dealer. Even that other friend of the underworld, St Kilda’s Michael Gardiner (Ben’s best mate) had the sense to stay away. The St Kilda directors were very nervous at this indication that Cousins is still in contact with undesirables.

The number 1 pick, taken by Melbourne, was Jack Watts, a tall forward. Watts caused a minor sensation at draft camp by recording the fastest sprint time ever for a non-indigenous player, remarkable for someone of his height. He’s very skinny and will need to beef up considerably before he can play AFL.

St Kilda pulled a surprise with pick 83, the one that had been earmarked for Cousins, by drafting Irishman Colm Begley (AIATL’s mate) who was unexpectedly delisted by Brisbane in the middle of the International Rules series.

St Kilda’s first 5 picks went on a tall forward, a ruckman, a small forward, a pacy midfielder and a tall defender - three big men for an already huge team. I’d have been happier with 3 or 4 quick midfielders.

Some of the young players in the draft this year look remarkably skinny and underweight.... lucky the old fashioned "hardman" has all but been eleminated from the game, or some clubs would have been looking at big hospital bills next season....

This was an exceptionally tall draft and one the purists will tell you favoured athletes over footballers. The number 1 pick, Jack Watts, was an elite level basketball junior who only decided Aussie Rules was his preferred game 6 months ago. The number 2 pick, Nick Naitanui (West Coast) has been playing the game for less than 2 years. He’s 6 ‘6” tall, incredibly fast and recorded the highest vertical leap from a standing start in draft camp history. He’s so skinny that if it wasn’t for his big hair he’d be invisible. Nevertheless, it’s being seen as the best draft since 2001, generally regarded as the greatest ever.

The average draft has 63 players picked. Yesterday, it was 75 – partly a reflection of the draft’s quality, partly because every club wanted to load up on young talent in the last uncompromised draft for several years. 44 players who were delisted by their clubs at the end of the season nominated for the draft. Only 4 got selected. A handful more will get picked up at the pre-season draft but, for the vast majority, their careers are finished.

An interesting feature of the draft was that clubs tended to go for players from their home states at least for the high picks. If we leave the special cases of Sydney and Brisbane aside, only 2 of the 14 first round picks switched states.

This where the 75 players come from:

Melbourne 25
Western Australia 16
Country Victoria 14
South Australia 13
Tasmania 4
Queensland 1
Northern Territory 1
Ireland 1
New South Wales/ACT 0

8 players were Indigenous and the best represented clubs were Perth’s Swan Districts with 7 and Melbourne’s Sandringham with 6. The Queensland figure which, in recent years, has been much higher was affected by many young Queenslanders holding off for a year hoping to get picked by the Gold Coast next year. NSW remains a bit of a disaster area for the AFL although a number of New South Welshmen will be recruited under the NSW scholarship scheme.

Ben Cousins is an AFL player again. He was taken by Richmond with the final pick of the pre-season draft this morning sparking scenes of wild jubilation from the Richmond fans in my office. I expect we'll see a huge surge in Richmond membership sales.

Cousins was one of the highest paid players in the competition 2 years ago.