Ben Cousins, Australian footballer
Benjamin Luke Cousins (born 30 June 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for West Coast and Richmond in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Cousins is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the fifty greatest players of all time. During his 12-year, 238-game career with West Coast, he won several of the league's highest individual awards, including a Brownlow Medal, Most Valuable Player and a premiership medallion. He was also selected six times in the All-Australian Team and represented Australia in the International Rules Series. He was West Coast's club champion for four seasons and captain for five seasons.
Cousins' football career was marred by highly publicised off-field incidents involving recreational drug use, traffic convictions and association with criminal elements. On several occasions he was fined or sanctioned by West Coast, culminating in his contract's termination in October 2007. The following month, he was banned from AFL for one year by the AFL Commission for "bringing the game into disrepute". Amid predictions that he would remain undrafted, Richmond claimed Cousins with the last pick of the 2008 draft. He played 32 games across two seasons at the club, retiring from the AFL at the end of the 2010 season.
Cousins co-produced a documentary film titled Such is Life: The Troubled Times of Ben Cousins, saying he hoped it would serve as a cautionary tale against drug use. Released days after his retirement, it went onto become "one of the most-watched documentaries in Australian history." Post-football, Cousins continued to struggle with his drug addiction and have run-ins with the law, and in 2017 he received a 12-month prison sentence for a variety of offences.