- West Coast great recently appeared on Dancing With The Stars
- He has now landed another position on television
Ben Cousins has landed another television job as he continues to turn his life around after his drug addiction wrecked his incredible footy career.
The Brownlow Medallist and premiership winner will now be featured on Channel Seven’s live coverage of footy games this year in a great leap forward for his media career.
Cousins will join AFLW great Daisy Pearce, his former Eagles teammate Mark LeCras and ex-Dockers skipper Shaun McManus on the broadcaster’s calls of Fremantle and West Coast’s home games this season.
The 46-year-old snagged a full-time position on Perth radio station Mix94.5’s breakfast program last month, following on from his role on Seven’s Dancing With The Stars last year.
That came after he made his debut as a Seven News sports presenter in Perth in June 2023, where he impressed the station’s bosses.
‘You can see why Cousins was a footy star. He’s of course got natural ability, but his work ethic is incredibly impressive,’ Seven news director Ray Kuka said.
Ben Cousins (pictured left at the 2024 Brownlow Medal ceremony) has taken a big leap forward in his television career
The West Coast Eagles great (pictured competing on Dancing With The Stars) will now commentate on AFL games for Channel Seven
‘His ability to focus, apply and strive for the best is a credit to him.
‘It, of course, doesn’t hurt that the camera loves him.’
Cousins will have a wealth of footy experience to call on when he starts commentating on games, starting with West Coast’s match against the Gold Coast on March 16.
The former footy bad boy is regarded as one of the game’s all-time greats despite his issues off the field, winning the 2005 Brownlow Medal as the AFL’s best and fairest player, and playing a leading role in the Eagles’ 2006 premiership victory.
Cousins played 238 games and booted 205 goals for West Coast between 1996 and 2007.
The former midfielder captained the Eagles from 2001 to 2005, securing the club’s best and fairest award in four out of those five seasons.
He was suspended by the club in March 2007 – just six months after the grand final triumph over Sydney – for alleged substance abuse and sacked six months later after being arrested for drug possession and refusing to submit to a blood test.
He returned to the AFL in 2009 with Richmond, before retiring at the end of the 2010 season.
Cousins was jailed on six separate occasions in 13 years and spent seven months behind bars in 2020, before he apparently decided enough was enough.
The new role continues Cousins’ comeback after his addiction problems helped end his footy career and landed him in jail
He has said he only regrets how long it took to get clean.
‘I wish it hadn’t had to have taken this long, and had to run its course the way it did,’ he revealed to The Front Bar in April last year.
‘But yeah, it’s nice to be working and busy, have some real ambition back, and, you know, just connected back in with friends, family, and even on a community level, you know.
‘Life’s never been better, to be honest.’
