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6 months ago
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The AFL has made its decision on whether former West Coast Eagles bad boy Ben Cousins will be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame in 2024.
The premiership winner and All Australian undoubtedly has the playing credentials to achieve the league's highest honour, but his well-documented battles with booze, drugs and his criminal past have held him back to date.
That includes a conviction for stalking his ex-partner, which saw him spend seven months in jail in 2020.
Cousins has turned his life around in a big way in recent years, appearing healthy, clean and sober and picking up a new job as a television news presented in his home town of Perth and tipped to appear on Seven's Dancing with the Stars.
However those efforts have not swayed the AFL, with Cousins ruled out of contention for the 2024 inductions and reportedly not set to be considered for several more years.
Next month, the hall of fame will welcome new members, with former Hawthorn full-forward Jason Dunstall being promoted to Legend status.
Ben Cousins had many troubled years during and after his playing career but has cleaned himself up and is a picture of health in 2024
The West Coast Eagles premiership winner would walk into the AFL Hall of Fame, but has been held back because of his off-field actions
Cousins had long-running battles with drugs and alcohol and was handed a conviction and jail time for stalking his former partner
Inductees are chosen partly based on their character, and the hall of fame has updated its rules to allow for the removal or suspension of members – a decision sparked by Barry Cable's civil court conviction for child sexual abuse.
However, despite recent AFL actions to address violence against women, including a moment's silence and participants linking arms, The Age has reported that Cousins was not considered for induction into the hall of fame even before these events.
The process of how the AFL makes these decisions is kept confidential.
It comes after the AFL announced that Cousins' off-field scandals hadn't ruled him out of the Hall of Fame in April.
'I will say it's a joy to see Ben in the shape he's in right now, and I've seen a fair bit of him in the west,' AFL commission chair Richard Goyder said at the time.
'I think [Cousins' recovery] is fantastic ... what I would say with Hall of Fame, and it's almost my precursor to our committee discussions each year, is it's not who's in, it's who's not in.
'It's an incredibly high bar to be a Hall of Famer in the AFL, and it's even higher to be a Legend, so we'll look at those things in due course.'
Cousins has spent time back at his former club including at this parents versus kids match in March
Former AFL star Wayne Carey was also blocked by the AFL from induction into the NSW Hall of Fame because of accusations made against him during and after his playing career
This decision comes shortly after the AFL stopped Wayne Carey from being honoured as a Legend in the NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame because he has been accused of shocking behaviour towards women during and after his playing career.
In 2007, he was arrested in the US for assaulting a female police officer. This came after his then-girlfriend, Kate Neilson, claimed he hit her in the face with a wine glass.
He admitted to attacking and resisting Miami police but was not convicted. Neilson chose not to press charges.
'We didn't think it was the right decision,' AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said last week.
'I called Wayne Carey earlier this morning to inform him of this and he agreed that being made a Legend would take away from the event and the important focus on the national response to the issue of gender-based violence against women.'
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