Troubled AFL great Ben Cousins’ footy comeback continues with ‘uncensored’ shows with Sam Newman
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1996 – Makes AFL debut with West Coast and is named the league’s Rising Star
2001 – Named club co-captain of West Coast at age 23. Made sole captain the next year
2002 – Breaks his arm falling down a flight of stairs at a nightclub months after punching his teammate Daniel Kerr
2005 – (May) Is quizzed by police about association with underworld identities
– (September) Wins Brownlow medal as the AFL’s best and fairest player
Cousins after the 2006 AFL Grand Final
2006 – (February) Swims across a Perth river to escape a booze bus
– (September) Wins AFL premiership with the Eagles
– (December) Arrested after passing out in front of Melbourne’s Crown Casino and spends four hours in custody
2007 – (March) Suspended by West Coast after missing training session
– (April) Goes to a drug rehabilitation facility in Malibu, California
– (October) Revealed to have visited fellow Eagles legend Chris Mainwaring twice on the night he died of a drug overdose
– (October) Arrested and charged with drug offences that are later dropped
– (November) Eventually sacked by West Coast and banned from the AFL for one year
2008 – AFL re-registers Cousins and he is signed by Richmond
2010 – Retires from the AFL and releases autobiography and documentary
Cousins has been charged with drug possession and refusing a drug test in 2007, but the charges were later dropped
2015 – Arrested three times before leading police on a slow-speed car chase
2016 – (June) Spotted behaving erratically and directing traffic on a highway
– (October) In and out of court over drug offences and breaches a restraining order taken out by his ex-partner
2018 – (January) Released from jail on parole just 10 months into his sentence
Takes up a community support role with the West Coast Eagles – a requirement of his parole conditions
– (May) Reports emerge he hasn’t been seen at the club for a month
The club confirms Cousins told officials in April he no longer wanted the job
– (August) Arrested and charged with drug possession and breaching a restraining order
2019 – (February) Fined $1,750 for possessing meth and hiding it up his anus while in jail
(March) Pleads not guilty to 14 offences including breaching a family violence restraining order and a count each of aggravated stalking and threatening to injure, endanger or harm
(April) Arrested in Perth and released from jail on bail after eight months inside.
2020 – (March) Tell-all documentary Coming Clean goes to air – Cousins opens up about his meth addiction and time behind bars
(April) Arrested in Perth after allegedly being caught with 2.5 grams of methamphetamine while asleep beside his car
He is remanded in custody after pleading guilty to possessing methamphetamine and incurring a $1500 fine.
He is also charged with aggravated stalking of his ex-partner, Maylea Tinecheff
(October) Pleads not guilty to aggravated stalking and 20 counts of breaching a family violence restraining order relating to his ex-partner
(November) Convicted of stalking his ex-partner but acquitted by a Perth court of restraining order breaches. Sentenced to seven months jail, which is backdated to April
He is released from Hakea prison in late November
2021 – Returns to the footy field playing for the Queens Park Bulldogs in Perth’s Metro Football League