Flying High No Longer

God how I wish the AFL would let Ben Cousins get past that white-line and on to the field…

Last night (25 Nov 2008 ) St Kilda declared that they had no interest in taking on Ben Cousins. This comes after North Melbourne, Collingwood (after hiring a private investigator - awesome use of my membership resources) and most recently Brisbane all declined the fallen eagle.

The more I think about this the more I think Cousins is a lost opportunity both onfield and off.

On field: Cousins is one of the greats – winning Brownlows,  winning grandfinals, achieving All-Australian selections, being deemed best and fairest, and holding the captaincy for five years. 

If he was an okay player, a good player, or even an excellent player then sure I could probably understand the hesitation. But he was (and could be again) great. He kicks goals and wins games, he boosts moral and memberships alike.

Shouldn’t this be enough to warrant a second (factor in public brawl with Kerr), no wait third (oh there was that incident with the WA gangland), okay forth (abandoning his car to run from a booze bust – hilarious), whoops fifth (that little incident at Crown in 2006)…shouldn’t this be enough to warrant ANOTHER chance???

When I first heard that St Kilda had rejected him my initial reaction was: Karma Benny. Obviously the guy isn’t the most sensible (or stealth) eagle in the nest. However the more I think about it the more I think perhaps he has been a little hard done by.

Yes drugs are socially frowned upon. Yes him taking them (AND GETTING CAUGHT) brought the game in to disrepute. However the only person who has lost (i mean a really lost) is Cousins. He has lost his reputation, his dignity, and the job he is seemingly so passionate about.

His job is (was) to play AFL football. To be fit, to kick goals, to win games. He is very good (great) at that job. He is not a politician, he is not a police officer, he is no-longer captain. He is not a role model .

I can’t help but think how unbalanced the treatment of Cousins has been. Contrast with Wayne Carey. Carey committed THE ULTIMATE SIN. As captain of the North Melbourne Football Club he cheated on his wife with the wife of his best friend. Oh and his best friend just happened to be his vice-captain. So many people lost. Carey (who also dabbles in non-prescription medicine) was picked up by the Adelaide Crows the next year.

Cousins has admitted he had a problem, sought treatment for that problem, and agreed to the re-entry conditions of the AFL (in the form of stringent drug testing). Another precedent: Piegate . Alan Didak, also an absolute great (minus the captaincy, Brownlow and Grandfinal) got a second (and third) chance when he was involved in an underworld joyride followed up a year later by a drunken joyride with team mate Heath Shaw. Shaw managed to crash his car into a parked car. Throughout preliminary questioning from the club Shaw stated that he was in the car with a ‘mate’. He did not mention this ‘mate’ was Didak. Didak straight away admitted he had a problem…no hang on…rather than admit to being drunk and in the car he concealed the truth (as he did a year earlier to police) from his captain, coach, and president. Pain all around – not to mention the horror that could have unfolded had the car plowed into a child rather than a parked vehicle. Didak coped a fine and missed a couple of games.

Supporters want their club to win games. Winning games boosts membership. More memberships boost sponsorship. More membership + Increased sponsorship =  Lots of money. 

Having Cousins in a team will create media hype but it doesn’t necessarily have to be bad. If the team does its due diligence (note to Collingwood re: Didak) and closely monitors Cousins it is possible that they will be praised for being a reformer.

Unlike Carey and Didak – Cousins’ actions stem from an addiction. Drug addiction is an illness, a horribly serious one. Cousins needs support so he can recover and perhaps even go on to become a voluntary role model to others suffering from similar illnesses. Give him a life-line.

PIEGATE

 

Tess is so very disappointed…Didak!

Tess is wondering how anyone could be so inexcusably stupid

Tess is thinking that Ben Cousins will fit right in at Collingwood after all

Tess is wondering if there are any PR jobs going at the Collingwood Football Club

I played around with my facebook status a fair bit over the past two days. I changed it several times as I continued to watch the Didak/Shaw drama unfold in the media.

Full disclosure: I am a dedicated diehard collingwood supporter who has and will continue to believe that the premierships a cake walk.

Last Sunday night Heath Shaw smashed his car in two parked cars. His blood alcohol reading was close to three times the legal limit (0.14). When originally questioned about the incident by the CFC he allegedly advised the club that he was in the car with a ‘mate’. What he neglected to mention is that this ‘mate’ happened to be Alan Didak – a fellow star player at the club. Believing Shaws frosted version of events, the club spent the next day denying Didak’s involvement in the “minor accident”. They also insisted that Shaw would play against St Kilda next week. When it became crystal clear that Didak was indeed in the car the club was forced to do a complete 180. 

Around a year ago Saint Didak was involved in a wild joy ride of sorts after meeting now notorious biker Christopher Hudson at a King Street Strip Club. Didak failed to report the incident (which involved a high speed car chase and shots being fired over the Westgate Bridge) until several days later when Hudson made the news in a big way. A CBD shooting which left a Melbourne lawyer dead and two others near-fatally injured. After Didak’s association with Hudson was made public he conveniently suffered alcohol induced amnesia and unfortunately couldn’t really remember to any degree of certainty what happened that night.

After the Hudson saga Didak was place on behavioural restrictions which included a ban on alcohol and a curfew. Last month the restrictions were lifted and Didak signed a $800,000, two-year contract with the club.

The clubs initial handling of Heath Shaw was lenient to say the least. He was given a fine of $10,000 (relative to his income this is nothing) and the all clear to play next week. Once it came out that Didak was involved and that both players had lied to the club the penalties got more sever. Both players were suspended for the rest of the season (including possible finals) and Didak was fined $5,000.

Absolute PR nightmare – I’m sure if Gerry McCusker writes a follow up to Talespin: Public Relations Disasters he will owe Didak a beer…or perhaps a coke.

So how did they get it so (so so so so so so SOS) wrong?

Huge Mistake 1:The club not quadruple checking who Shaws ‘mate’ was. Why would they not account for the where-abouts and actions of every other player. It’s called due-diligence and should have been done before the crisis reached boiling point.

Huge Mistake 1.5:Sending Scott Burns out to the media without quadruple checking their facts and making their brilliant captain look like an idiot who now has to do a massive backpedal due to the clubs incompetence.

Huge Mistake 2:The club not putting one of those electronic ankle band things on Alan Didak. I think Lindsay Lohan has some devise attached to her leg that chews off her foot if she touches alcohol, drugs, knives, guns, trys to adopt African children etc.

Huge Mistake 3: The club was too lenient on Shaw to begin with, they should have made an example of him. He is a public figure (I wont go as far to say a role model because he is not part of the clubs leadership team) in a team that has had a history of alcohol abuse issues (channelling Chad Morrison, Darren Millane, Chris Tarrant, Ben Johnson).

Lets flip the paradigm for a second. Lets pretend that an elderly person or small child happened to be standing where Shaw crashed the car. Lets pretend they were killed when he drunkenly plowed them down.

Would his actions be different? No…he would still have been driving recklessly with a blood alcohol level of 0.14

Would the clubs reaction have been different? ummm….yeah…I imagine his contract would have been torn up before the police arrived on the scene.

Huge Mistake 4:Taking so long to decide Didak’s future…get him out now…be firm, actually take some radical and decisive action that shows the club will not tolerate or condone in any way shape or form any illegal activity.

The court of public opinion does not look kindly on people who lie. It defiantly does not look kindly on people who lie more than once. In this age of camera phones and citizen journalists there was absolutly no way he was ever going to get away with it…damn if you could put stupid in a shot glass!

I’m keen to see what happens next…

If Collingwood is smart it will not renew the contracts of either Didak or Shaw.

Didak’s days are numbered. I think Shaw will stay and be made an example of (its nice to have family in high places). The club will pay for alcohol counselling. He will spend his next 10 years at the club giving talks to school boys about the dangers of binge drinking. He will have the axe over his head and told it will swiftly be brought down if he so much as steps foot in a bar for the rest of his playing career (on/off season). Collingwood need to recruit someone with a squeaky clean James Hird-esk reputation to replace Didak (if they even think about touching Ben ’iceman’ Cousins…). Finally they have to be sincerely sorry. They have to come out and apologise for disrespecting the fans, the AFL, and most importantly the thousands of Australians who are touched by drink driving tragedies each year. This should be done of their own accord, unprompted and timely. A short apology should be made at the beginning of their next match.

Oh and I bet the TAC are thanking their lucky stars they ended their sponsorship deal with Collingwood in January when little known player Wellingham was done for drink driving!

Alan Didak models the new team uniform (sorry couldn't help myself)