The thing that sticks out for me, is that the cocaine was undoubtedly performance enhancing.

Even if he wasn't using during games or training, it provides the confidence that proves more and more to be the key to a player getting the best out of himself.

Case in point: Travis Cloke - his confidence must shot to pieces with all the horrendous goalkicking.

One small line and boom - confidence is sky high again. That arrogance that only coke can supply.

There's no doubt in my mind he wouldn't have been as good a player without the drugs.

The man has a lot of self-belief, but the cocaine would have taken it to another level.

Ben has always had confidence oozing out of him...Look at that Promo he did as a 10 year old for the league.

He was always a kid who won at whatever he did. The drugs just extended that vibe for him.

i thought it was wrong that the pies had a private investigator on him glad he turned them down

Be interesting from next year whatBenny does, as long has stays stays away from the drugs he will do good

i thought it was wrong that the pies had a private investigator on him glad he turned them down

Be interesting from next year whatBenny does, as long has stays stays away from the drugs he will do good

and his dad is pretty brave for putting up with the ups and downs of Benny

i thought it was wrong that the pies had a private investigator on him glad he turned them down

Be interesting from next year whatBenny does, as long has stays stays away from the drugs he will do good

I hope he takes a job in the media. He still has a lot to offer the Game. He has got to stay busy.

His real journey starts on monday. I have no doubt he will "Dabble" in drugs throughout the years. Most addicts do, i just hope he can keep it quiet, because the media will always hound him.

i hope for his sake, his post career doesnt get to the lows that Wayne Carey had. Any bad move he makes the media will be onto him

i hope for his sake, his post career doesnt get to the lows that Wayne Carey had. Any bad move he makes the media will be onto him

Absolutely, at least he has put his Demons out there. I still don't believe Carey when i see him speak. His body language is wrong. You can see it is forced.

The thing that sticks out for me, is that the cocaine was undoubtedly performance enhancing.

Even if he wasn't using during games or training, it provides the confidence that proves more and more to be the key to a player getting the best out of himself.

Case in point: Travis Cloke - his confidence must shot to pieces with all the horrendous goalkicking.

One small line and boom - confidence is sky high again. That arrogance that only coke can supply.

There's no doubt in my mind he wouldn't have been as good a player without the drugs.

The man has a lot of self-belief, but the cocaine would have taken it to another level.

Cocaine does raise your confidence, however unless he was snorting lines EVERYDAY the above mentioned "arrogance that comes with coke" is wrong.

Also just because Ben Cousins says he is an addict, doesn’t mean he was. He was a binge user, and as mentioned in the doco used drugs to reward himself after training blocks of anything from 1 - 4 week. Again if someone has a line coke tonight, in no way would it be of any sort of advantage or confidence boost anytime other than tonight. Obviously he wasn’t doing lines in the change rooms, so again no extra confidence or arrogance...

A doctor told me that a possibility as to the reason he never tested positive to drugs is due to his body’s fat percentage. When you do any sort of recreational drug, traces of that drug store in the body’s fat cells. We have all seen how lean Ben Cousins is, the drugs would have passed through faster than normal. You can also buy (over the counter I might add) "body cleansing" kits that flush your system within 48 hours.

If anything the fact he did drugs and trained so hard would have done nothing but damage.

BTW - Travis Cloke is a muppet who needs to reinvent his kicking style, or accept that he doesn’t have the ability or skill to consistently the ball straight to score. From memory the same sort of thing happened to Jade Rawlings, he was hopeless.

After all this, I don't ever see him having a regular job. He would be poison for any media organisation. I don't think he could lead a frugal life with the cashout from this story. What next? Perhaps the book deal and then the movie plus a few Womens Weekly, New Idea updates on his "recovery". At best to be one of those who live above their means like the colourful characters that call themselves professional gamblers. At worst the flop house when's he 40 then dead in the gutter like many junkies found in the Richmond area.

Edited August 26, 201014 yr by america de cali

After all this, I don't ever see him having a regular job. He would be poison for any media organisation. I don't think he could lead a frugal life with the cashout from this story. What next? Perhaps the book deal and then the movie plus a few Womens Weekly, New Idea updates on his "recovery". At best to be one of those who live above their means like the colourful characters that call themselves professional gamblers. At worst the flop house when's he 40 then dead in the gutter like many junkies found in the Richmond area.

Unfortunately, he has some really big challenges ahead and I agree he would be poison for any media organisation to sign up. Matthew Newton should ring bells. Cousins is now a media commodity with a use by date. He would want to get the book, the movie and world tour going quickly. The media is ruthless at discarding "old news".

Unfortunately, he has some really big challenges ahead and I agree he would be poison for any media organisation to sign up. Matthew Newton should ring bells. Cousins is now a media commodity with a use by date. He would want to get the book, the movie and world tour going quickly. The media is ruthless at discarding "old news".

Perhaps Mathew Newton can play Cousins in the movie. Has the right training for the part. Both now being commodities they will be exploited to the fullest.

Edited August 26, 201014 yr by america de cali

If we are going to start discussing Matthew Newton then maybe this thread should be moved to general discussion.

Seriously, Ben has done the most damage to himself with his addiction and dragged his family down with him. Matthew Newton has been charged with domestic and spousal abuse, physical and violent assault of women!!

These are two completely different issues and should be dealt with as such!

The Matthew Newton 'saga' has little relevance to Ben's.

Totally separate issues that these two are going through and to try and 'label' them as identical in any fashion is proof of how little is known about drugs and addiction.

If we are going to start discussing Matthew Newton then maybe this thread should be moved to general discussion.

Seriously, Ben has done the most damage to himself with his addiction and dragged his family down with him. Matthew Newton has been charged with domestic and spousal abuse, physical and violent assault of women!!

These are two completely different issues and should be dealt with as such!

Snap!

If we are going to start discussing Matthew Newton then maybe this thread should be moved to general discussion.

Seriously, Ben has done the most damage to himself with his addiction and dragged his family down with him. Matthew Newton has been charged with domestic and spousal abuse, physical and violent assault of women!!

These are two completely different issues and should be dealt with as such!

The matter was relevant because both Newton and Cousins have been or are involved in socially unacceptable behaviours particularly by community standards. The extent of each matter is neither here nor there. Ch7 erred selecting Newton with "form". I cant see another station doing similarly with Cousins unless it is a self promoting stunt for the station.

These are two completely different issues and should be dealt with as such!

Indeed DW, back to Ben....

The Matthew Newton 'saga' has little relevance to Ben's.

Totally separate issues that these two are going through and to try and 'label' them as identical in any fashion is proof of how little is known about drugs and addiction.

Garbage. The reference to Newton is that a station employed him when he had a known history of misdemeanours. Its backfired on them. I could not see how a station would employ Cousins with a past history of matters and a realistic risk of offending again.

No one is comparing the offence. Its clear where thats at.

I don't know ... Not convinced this is a true documentary as much as self serving spin doctoring and persona reinvention. Can't help but think even ol Sammy might just be closer to the truth about how this ought to be viewed . Not taking anything away from the impact on his famy and all assoc but this just doesn't all ring fair dinkum to me. Bens a lot smarter than given credit despite having travelled the dumb path of a druggy.

Don't have much tolerance for drugs, idiots etc. He had choices ... Many don't. If this had been a little less about the image and more about the harrow then I might be more convinced. Still smacks (npi) of look at me look at me. Cunning as a street rat. .. dumb as a bunny.

Needed to be less about the show ..... More about the snow... And why you shouldn't . 3/10 ch 7

The matter was relevant because both Newton and Cousins have been or are involved in socially unacceptable behaviours particularly by community standards. The extent of each matter is neither here nor there. Ch7 erred selecting Newton with "form". I cant see another station doing similarly with Cousins unless it is a self promoting stunt for the station.

Read Channel 7.

It is merely my opinion, but I would suggest 7 have gained more than enough out of this already and that they promoted this to suit there own agenda. Fair enough too, they have a television station to run and ratings are the game.

The doco was made for Ben's interests, I don't think he ever sat back and thought "this will be a good lesson that I can share", channel 7 decided to go down that path in the promotion. Due to this, I would agree with you Rhino that Ben's chances of being welcomed into the media is seriously compromised. More now because of the doco.

The similarity is closer and relavent. Similar age and both great talents in the public eye sunk by their own excesses. The only difference seems to be that deep down Cousins is a nice guy and Newton is a psycho chicken.

Edited August 26, 201014 yr by america de cali

Garbage. The reference to Newton is that a station employed him when he had a known history of misdemeanours. Its backfired on them. I could not see how a station would employ Cousins with a past history of matters and a realistic risk of offending again.

No one is comparing the offence. Its clear where thats at.

Why does it even bear relevance and need to be bought up in any case? Because you wanted to give your argument more strength by loosely comparing Cousin's issues with Newtons?

You may not be exactly comparing offences, but you are certainly comparing them as 'troubled individuals'. Far too easy to do that.

The similarity is closer and relavent. Similar age and both great talents in the public eye sunk by their own excesses. The only difference seems to be that deep down Cousins is a nice guy and Newton is a psycho chicken.

If you're looking for similarities how about comparing Matthew Newton to Andrew Lovett. In terms of real world issues, outside of football, the issues of these two people bare more relevance to each other than a self confessed drug addict in Ben Cousins.

I think it's time to move on from the Ben Cousins issue and leave it to his family and close friends to look out for him.

No, but I can tell you that myself. The sort of drugs he was taking no longer exist in your urine within 12 hours. That is why they needed him to do a hair test, which he of course proceeded to screw up by removing every inch of body hair he had.

As stupid as he is beautiful, but also extremely lucky. Obviously was never tested within 12 hours of a binge, and never got a proper hair test.

But then, the AFL's drug code and testing system is a complete and utter joke, just like many of the AFL's other systems (MRP, Rules Committee, the draw etc).

Still gathering my thoughts on the whole situation. However in response to your post that he never tested positive Adrian Anderson hinted that it might not be the case. He referred specifically to no positive test on match days but was very guarded about out of match day testing". It left the distinct impression that Ben had in fact tested positive on non match day tests but that he was not at liberty to discuss that.

One other aspect I would like to comment on at this time. It was stated by the CEO of the drug organization that drug users have a health problem and should be treated as ill people and nothing else and basically not condemned for their behaviour at all. While that is true if they become addicted, it is illegal to take drugs and the first time you take them you are not an addict, that is a choice decision that you make. You are deciding to break the law, risk health problems etc.etc. which at that point unless you are suffering from another illness, you are doing of your own free will. For that I believe you should stand condemned. That of course does not mean that you shouldn't be helped, but I think we need to acknowledge the reason you are in that situation if we wish to deter others. It is the reason the Courts have removed the drunk defence in some crimes, because people have to take responsibility for their actions. If you choose to drink and then drive you can't say I drove because I was drunk.

Clearly this is a very complex issue, to complex for me, but while we help those that are affected we must do more to stop potential victims.

Lastly on a different issue, Sam Newman on the Footy Show viciously attacked 7 for showing the documentary and hid behind the argument that 9 would have done it better. I thought this was another real lowpoint in his career and his behaviour nothing short of disgraceful. The others seemed very embarrassed.

The thing that sticks out for me, is that the cocaine was undoubtedly performance enhancing.

There's no doubt in my mind he wouldn't have been as good a player without the drugs.

The man has a lot of self-belief, but the cocaine would have taken it to another level.

I cannot help but agree - somehow this seems to have been overlooked. To me it has to tarnish his Brownlow - and the 1996 flag

I cannot help but agree - somehow this seems to have been overlooked. To me it has to tarnish his Brownlow - and the 1996 flag

2006