For the primary time in additional than a decade, Ben Cousins will attend a Brownlow Medal ceremony in Melbourne — in a significant step ahead for the previous Eagle.
Speaking to The Australian on Monday, the 2005 Brownlow Medallist, shall be within the room when this 12 months’s biggest AFL participant is recognised. But for Cousins and his rocky previous, it marks an enormous step in his return.
A return marked by his new function as a member of the 7NEWS Perth staff — Cousins reads sports activities through the morning news bulletin, with colleagues describing him as “keen to learn”.
And all his new teammates agree the rationale he gained’t reoffend is his kids, who he sees recurrently.
“I’m somebody that hasn’t been given a second chance,” he stated.
“I’ve been given a third, fourth and fifth for whatever reason. But that’s what it’s taken.
“I want to make sure that other people in that sort of position are going to get the same understanding I do and the same help along the way I did.”
While Cousins attended the 2021 Brownlow, hosted in Perth, this 12 months marks the primary time in additional than a decade he’s returned to the sporting capital of Australia for the ceremony.
The former Eagles celebrity stated soccer had been a “constant” in his turnbulent life.
“I know I’m starting from a long way back but I needed to feel like I was making a contribution,” he stated.
“Once I was released, I wasn’t quite at the stage where I felt I was in a position to get back into full-time work so I connected with a community football club, just training a couple times a week over the summer. It was one I hadn’t had any involvement with prior so I didn’t know anybody at that stage.
“I was out of my comfort zone and getting to meet new people. It was football for me that was a constant. I enjoy having a kick and it was that which got me back involved in the community. It played a really important part in my recovery.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
