St Kilda in one-horse race to sign Ben Cousins

[Shades]

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/spor ... 69,00.html





Cousins's judgment day as a professional footballer will be Monday or Tuesday next week when St Kilda's board makes its decision.



we better say yes lol

[Moccha]

How does that old Cheech and Chong saying go......looks like s***, smells like s***, tastes like s***......it is s***!

I hope the guy isn't bluffing anyone, because he is a brilliant footballer and he will get back to his best if he gives himself the chance

[Devilhead]

Oh yeah baby !!!!!!!!!!!

The lid is off !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Linton Street Flash]

What is Aarons beef with the leadership group when he entered the club? - Burke, Loewe, Harvey and Thompson?

hardly wildmen?? - is he trying to tell us something?

[saint66au]

What is Aarons beef with the leadership group when he entered the club? - Burke, Loewe, Harvey and Thompson?

hardly wildmen?? - is he trying to tell us something?

Was probably more refering to the likes of P.Everitt, and B.Hall....and their penchant for mischief.

[The Linton Street Flash]

What is Aarons beef with the leadership group when he entered the club? - Burke, Loewe, Harvey and Thompson?

hardly wildmen?? - is he trying to tell us something?

Was probably more refering to the likes of P.Everitt, and B.Hall....and their penchant for mischief.

Hmmm perhaps - but they were hardly leaders of the club...

A strange thing to say methinks.

[bob__71]

they were held in line well by loewe, burke and harvey wernt they?

[uncle joe]

A bit of a worry that the other 15 clubs are not interested in Cousins . I hope we haven't missed something !!
We have made some pretty bad recycled player decisions in the past .

[StSteven]

He is a HUGE risk imo. A risk to club, sponsors and players. I don't like the idea of a year of media focus on Ben as to wheter he is off or on the gear. It will be a huge distraction.

[santazzi]

I do not think we have any thing to lose by drafting Ben provided we go about it with open heart and systems in place to help him in his journey back to health and footy greatness.

If he comes good we win.
If he relapses we have a moral win: we gave the man a fair go. Just make sure the contract is thought through so that the divorce(if it comes) is clean and morally/politically/legally defensibe.

[rodgerfox]

Without stating the obvious, the whole Ben Cousins drud saga is the single most over inflated 'news' story of this decade.

We have guys on our list being accused of things worse than anything Cousins has done.

Other clubs have guys on their list who have done and are still doing exactly what Cousins has done. So do we.

What a yawn.

Draft him. If he plays well, he gets a game. If we win, everyone's happy.

If he can't abide by the rules our of club, then we deal with him the same way we deal with anyone else who doesn't.

Absolute farce this is.

[BAM! (shhhh)]

What is Aarons beef with the leadership group when he entered the club? - Burke, Loewe, Harvey and Thompson?

hardly wildmen?? - is he trying to tell us something?

I wouldn't read much into it - the old "party culture" is pretty well known and accepted as something that's only recently changed... and not just at St Kilda, though the Saints were the poster club for it for a long, long time.

[St Igmata]

Without stating the obvious, the whole Ben Cousins drud saga is the single most over inflated 'news' story of this decade.

We have guys on our list being accused of things worse than anything Cousins has done.

Other clubs have guys on their list who have done and are still doing exactly what Cousins has done. So do we.

What a yawn.

Draft him. If he plays well, he gets a game. If we win, everyone's happy.

If he can't abide by the rules our of club, then we deal with him the same way we deal with anyone else who doesn't.

Absolute farce this is.

I'm not too sure it is a farce.
IT wont be a matter of drafting him and axeing him if he "cant abide by the rules".
The repercussions of a Cousins in trouble will be devestating.Make no mistake about it!
The brand will be shredded and the losses will be great.

[fonz_#15]

i feel there is minimal risk, and we need to have a lot of focus on us this year as we have been farked over by the draw so we need something to create revenue.

[Ralphy]

oh good only a couple more steps to go

[rodgerfox]

Without stating the obvious, the whole Ben Cousins drud saga is the single most over inflated 'news' story of this decade.

We have guys on our list being accused of things worse than anything Cousins has done.

Other clubs have guys on their list who have done and are still doing exactly what Cousins has done. So do we.

What a yawn.

Draft him. If he plays well, he gets a game. If we win, everyone's happy.

If he can't abide by the rules our of club, then we deal with him the same way we deal with anyone else who doesn't.

Absolute farce this is.

I'm not too sure it is a farce.
IT wont be a matter of drafting him and axeing him if he "cant abide by the rules".
The repercussions of a Cousins in trouble will be devestating.Make no mistake about it!
The brand will be shredded and the losses will be great.

Why?

Give me one good reason why?

We had two blokes on the verge of being chraged with rape. What was the repercussions of that?

Seriously, people over-inflate the care factor of footy it's hilarious.


No one really cares. The papers do, and they want you to care too. Cause it will sell more.

But in the end, big friccken deal.

[St Michele]

When the story about Ben first broke, I said I would give up my membership if he became a Saint however I have since realised we all stuff up in life. Unfortunatly for him it was in front of the media as he was a sportsman and especially here in the west he can't even go tot he toilet without the paper reporting on it.

I have thought long and hard about this and now truely believe he needs to play the game, I also believe as he has never tested positive ( well not more than twice as they don't say anything before then) we should give him a chance to play for us.

I only hope the board are looking here at the majrity of the responses about this and take it into consideration when they make their decision. While I do think it is important what the sponsors say what the members say is more important.

My vote goes for being compassionate and letting him become a Saint and let other addicts see you can stuff up but if you really want something you can come back and become a contributing member of society.

Just my 2 cents worth

[rodgerfox]

I really hope the Board are thinking 'how are we going to win a flag?'.

And I hope their response is 'by winning games of footy'.

And then I hope their reaction to their own response is 'the best way to win games is to get good players and let our footy department look after the entire on-field aspect of our club'.

Then I hope they go to Ross Lyon and say 'so Ross, are you going to recruit Ben Cousins?'.

Then I hope Ross Lyon says 'Shiit yeah. He's a gun'.

[Raven]

I really hope the Board are thinking 'how are we going to win a flag?'.

And I hope their response is 'by winning games of footy'.

And then I hope their reaction to their own response is 'the best way to win games is to get good players and let our footy department look after the entire on-field aspect of our club'.

Then I hope they go to Ross Lyon and say 'so Ross, are you going to recruit Ben Cousins?'.

Then I hope Ross Lyon says 'Shiit yeah. He's a gun'.

QFT.

[meher baba]

What is Aarons beef with the leadership group when he entered the club? - Burke, Loewe, Harvey and Thompson?

hardly wildmen?? - is he trying to tell us something?

Was probably more refering to the likes of P.Everitt, and B.Hall....and their penchant for mischief.

Hmmm perhaps - but they were hardly leaders of the club...

A strange thing to say methinks.

The off-field culture of the Saints was a long-term problem which was completely turned around in the early 2000s, and has gotten steadily better.

Posters - perhaps especially the younger ones - continue to underestimate the enormous impact made by Butterss, GT and Waldron (and, to a greater extent than has usually been recognised, Hamill and Riewoldt) on the club's culture. It is a far more professional and dedicated outfit than it was for many decades prior to 2001, perhaps ever.

Burke, Harvey, Loewe, Thommo and others might have been impeccable role models in a passive sort of way, but they (and many of St Kilda's top players before them) always seemed more comfortable in keeping their heads down and getting on with perfecting their own contributions rather than worrying too much about changing the behaviour and attitudes of those around them. The culture was that the party boys could party, and the more professional players were prepared to live and let live.

And, throughout the 1990s and 2000s the coaches were impotent and/or continually undermined by the Board. Lockett was encouraged to see himself as being bigger than the rest of the team and the club put together. The sackings of Sheldon and Alves sent a clear and disastrous signal to the more difficult players that they were more important than the coach or the club. Watson was as weak as piss and Blight was diffident and distant.

Butterss, GT and Waldron sent lots of important signals over a few years. They didn't struggle to hang onto Hall and Everitt. Lawrence was dealt with harshly, as he needed to be. Milne and Montagna were backed up on the basis that they behaved impeccably for ever after (which they appear to have done, more or less). Gehrig continued to commit some minor misdemeanours and was hung out to dry in public for them. Other less important players were dealt with harshly for being drunk during the week, lazy (eg, Guerra), unfit (Montagna at times and Schwarz more recently), etc.

And things have continued to improve under Lyon. The players we now have all seem to understand that not one of them - not even Riewoldt - is bigger than the club. If Milne and Dal don't do enough on field, they can be dropped. If a top ten draft pick like Armo doesn't show enough dedication to developing his fitness and his skills, he can cool his heels in the VFL while players with far less talent but better attitudes like Jones and Eddy and McQualter get a go in the AFL.

Ten years ago, the Saints would have been one of the least promising clubs in which to attempt the rehabilitation of Cousins. Now, as Hamill has said, there are no clubs better equipped to do this.

[ace]

HE WHO DARES WINS

SUCH IS LIFE

[rodgerfox]

What is Aarons beef with the leadership group when he entered the club? - Burke, Loewe, Harvey and Thompson?

hardly wildmen?? - is he trying to tell us something?

Was probably more refering to the likes of P.Everitt, and B.Hall....and their penchant for mischief.

Hmmm perhaps - but they were hardly leaders of the club...

A strange thing to say methinks.

The off-field culture of the Saints was a long-term problem which was completely turned around in the early 2000s, and has gotten steadily better.

Posters - perhaps especially the younger ones - continue to underestimate the enormous impact made by Butterss, GT and Waldron (and, to a greater extent than has usually been recognised, Hamill and Riewoldt) on the club's culture. It is a far more professional and dedicated outfit than it was for many decades prior to 2001, perhaps ever.

Burke, Harvey, Loewe, Thommo and others might have been impeccable role models in a passive sort of way, but they (and many of St Kilda's top players before them) always seemed more comfortable in keeping their heads down and getting on with perfecting their own contributions rather than worrying too much about changing the behaviour and attitudes of those around them. The culture was that the party boys could party, and the more professional players were prepared to live and let live.

And, throughout the 1990s and 2000s the coaches were impotent and/or continually undermined by the Board. Lockett was encouraged to see himself as being bigger than the rest of the team and the club put together. The sackings of Sheldon and Alves sent a clear and disastrous signal to the more difficult players that they were more important than the coach or the club. Watson was as weak as piss and Blight was diffident and distant.

Butterss, GT and Waldron sent lots of important signals over a few years. They didn't struggle to hang onto Hall and Everitt. Lawrence was dealt with harshly, as he needed to be. Milne and Montagna were backed up on the basis that they behaved impeccably for ever after (which they appear to have done, more or less). Gehrig continued to commit some minor misdemeanours and was hung out to dry in public for them. Other less important players were dealt with harshly for being drunk during the week, lazy (eg, Guerra), unfit (Montagna at times and Schwarz more recently), etc.

And things have continued to improve under Lyon. The players we now have all seem to understand that not one of them - not even Riewoldt - is bigger than the club. If Milne and Dal don't do enough on field, they can be dropped. If a top ten draft pick like Armo doesn't show enough dedication to developing his fitness and his skills, he can cool his heels in the VFL while players with far less talent but better attitudes like Jones and Eddy and McQualter get a go in the AFL.

Ten years ago, the Saints would have been one of the least promising clubs in which to attempt the rehabilitation of Cousins. Now, as Hamill has said, there are no clubs better equipped to do this.

I agree with the sentiment of your post, however we are nowhere near as 'clean' as we seem to be.

No club is.

This public image thing is completel frogshyt.

We have players behaving badly. All clubs do.

I've seen first hand some of our players in terrible states recently. Players who are supposed to be 'rehabilitated' and now new people.

They aren't.

Very few footballers are. Hell, even Mr. Perfect himself Michael Voss was caught throwing punches at a pub.

It wasn't that long ago I shared a beer or two with Nathan Buckley and although he was a fantastic bloke to have a beer with, his behaviour wasn't exactly 'squeaky clean'.

I'd say the only difference now is that winning is more important than ever. To win, you need to be fit.

To be fit, you need to be careful about what you do when you're not training. Or how what you do off-field impacts your ability to train.

I mean, even Robert Harvey tells the story of how him, Loewey and Burkey pulled into Spud's driveway in the wee hours of the morning after we beat the Tiges a couple of years back, and tooted the horn to take the piiss out of him. They were blind drunk as the sotry goes (except Burkey who doesn't drink).


This whole 'image of the game' stuff is absolute codswallop. The only ones who seem to care about it, are Caroline Wilson and Patrick Smith - and those in the public that get sucked in by their tripe.

[FortiusQuoFidelius]

I mean, even Robert Harvey tells the story of how him, Loewey and Burkey pulled into Spud's driveway in the wee hours of the morning after we beat the Tiges a couple of years back, and tooted the horn to take the piiss out of him. They were blind drunk as the sotry goes (except Burkey who doesn't drink).

Burkey must have been designated driver... It would have been a sight seeing Stewie squeezing into the back of Burkey's Holden Barina!!!

[Saint Bev]

I heard that yesterday he admitted to being addicted to drugs for 10 years. I also believe there are drugs you can take to "mask" drugs in your system. I really know little about it. If he has been lying and not been caught in 10 years, there is a major problem. Do we really need such a distraction and do we want this sort of influence on our young guys? Surely he would have a contract that was one strike and you are out. If he does mess up, how will it affect us, the media would have a field day with the typical St Kilda thing etc and how would the sponsors respond and this is not taking into acct memberships. A very big risk in my book.

[ausfatcat]

I also believe there are drugs you can take to "mask" drugs in your system. I

Sure is but those drugs are also banned.

Shane Warne got done for taking diet pills because diet pills can mask the use of other drugs.