Ben Cousins has made his first Australian rules appearance for more than 10 years, kicking a goal for a Perth team in a local suburban league.
The 42-year-old turned out for the Queens Park Bulldogs in the Perth Metro Football League on the weekend with the ex-AFL star snagging a major, while also setting up a goal for a teammate.
West Coast Eagles legend Cousins - who has suffered a much-publicised battle with drugs - was playing his first match in the sport since retiring from the AFL at the end of the 2010 season after two years with Richmond.
Looking fit and healthy, Cousins started the match on the half-forward flank and drew raucous cheers and anticipation from the crowd whenever he went near the ball.
Cousins has been in and out of jail in recent years, with his most recent stint occurring last year as he spent seven months in Hakea Prison after being found guilty of stalking his former partner Maylea Tinecheff.
Queens Park Bulldogs president Ross White was ecstatic about the crowd that Cousins helped pull to watch the game and he praised the one-time AFL premiership player for what he has brought to the club.
"The best thing about him is just the way he interacts with his teammates, opposition players," White told The West Australian.
"He cares about people and always gives his time just to talk and have photos.
"The sort of old Ben who cared about supporters is still that - and now it’s our supporters."
Ben Cousins kicks a goal for Queens Park FC@FootyRhino @7NewsPerth @adrianbarich @WestCoastEagles pic.twitter.com/SzgtNG3wc9
— Neil Spence (@neilcspence) May 16, 2021
Cousins was a father-son selection for West Coast in the 1995 draft after his father Bryan played 240 games for Perth in the WAFL.
He immediately showed the AFL that he was a star of the future, winning the 1996 AFL Rising Star in his first season with the Eagles.
Cousins won the first of his six All-Australian awards in 1998, before becoming club captain in 2001 - a role he then shared as a co-skipper from 2002-05.
He won the AFL's greatest individual honour - the Brownlow medal - in 2005 and became a premiership player with West Coast in 2006.
After being found with drugs in his car following the end of the 2007 season, Cousins was delisted by West Coast and sat out of the game for 12 months before joining Richmond for the 2009 campaign.
