Key Pie Keen On Cousins
The Age
Thursday September 4, 2008
KEY Collingwood midfielder Dane Swan would "love" to see Ben Cousins wearing the black and white next season, predicting that the fallen champion could take Collingwood to another level if he could overcome his issues and return to the game.
Swan, who has been Collingwood's most consistent midfielder this season, said Cousins was his favourite player and "a freak of an athlete" who could give the Magpies two or three seasons of good football.Asked whether he would like to see the Magpies recruit Cousins, who has a strong relationship with coach Mick Malthouse from West Coast days, Swan said: "Definitely. You know, he's a champion. But as long as, I think if he got cleared from everything he had to do, I don't know what has to happen for him to play AFL."But if all that went through, I'd love him, I'd love to play footy with Ben Cousins. "He was my favourite player, favourite midfielder the way, how hard he worked."When I was playing footy, the way I watched him . . . I'd watch him pretty much limp over the line, get on his hands and knees and have a spew, because he was that knackered."Two minutes later, get back up and running just as hard as he's ever run. To me, that's just a freak of an athlete."If he can come and just play a good two or three seasons with us, he'd just give our midfield so much more dynamic structure and, you know, he could take us to the next level."Swan was aware that there were hurdles that Cousins had to clear before he could enter the draft and then be registered as an AFL player."If the AFL clear him . . . if he is ready to play AFL again, most definitely I'd love to have him."Not surprisingly, given the Malthouse link and the hole in Collingwood's midfield, there has been considerable speculation about whether the Pies would be the club most willing to punt on 30-year-old Cousins, who will have to come back via the draft in the event that the AFL gives him medical clearance to resume his outstanding career.Former West Coast premiership player Karl Langdon last month suggested that Collingwood was the most likely destination for Cousins in the event that he returned to football.One of the key questions for Cousins, and indeed any club interested in acquiring him, is whether he nominates for the national draft in November or the pre-season draft for uncontracted and delisted players in December.If he nominated for the national draft, it would become a question not only of which club would be willing to take him, but what number draft pick they would be willing to sacrifice.There is little chance that clubs would give up a first-round pick, or one inside the top 20, in what looms as the last uncompromised draft for several years, given the introduction of the Gold Coast and Western Sydney teams.In the event that Cousins nominated for the pre-season draft, the question would become one of how much he would cost in pure dollar terms, and whether he nominated a high price on his head.
© 2008 The Age
