Ben Cousins says 'life has never been better' but laments troubled ...

AFL champion Ben Cousins says he is grateful he has turned his life around, but regrets how long it took to get there.

Cousins was sacked by his first club West Coast after the 2007 season and handed a 12-month ban by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute when he was arrested for drug possession and refused to submit a blood test, among a string of other indiscretions.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ben Cousins opens up as a guest on The Front Bar.

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The 45-year-old reformed drug addict’s life then spiralled out of control following his controversial footy career, having been arrested on multiple occasions before being locked up for offences relating to drugs, violence and stalking.

Even when he was released after serving 11 months of a 12-month sentence in 2017 and 2018, the Brownlow medallist relapsed again and was jailed for a second time in 2018 and 2019 for drug possession, making threats and breaking a violence restraining order.

He hit rock bottom when he was put behind bars for a third time after being found guilty of stalking his ex-partner Maylea Tinecheff — the mother of their two children — in 2020.

Having finally put all that behind him now, the 2006 premiership champion is now working for 7NEWS Perth presenting sport while he is also on Perth radio and is about to appear on Seven’s hit show Dancing With the Stars.

Appearing on The Front Bar on Wednesday night, Cousins said he feels glad he’s on the right side of the microphone now.

Ben Cousins is enjoying a new lease on life. Credit: Seven

“It’s much easier than being the news,” he joked of his new caper.

Asked how he was going in his rehabilitated life, Cousins added: “Really well actually. I wish it hadn’t had to have taken this long and have to run its course the way it did.”

“But it’s nice to be working and busy, have some real ambition back, and just (be) connected back in with friends, family, and even on a community level,” he went on.

“Life has never been better to be honest.”

Watch full episode replays of Talking Footy on 7plus

After serving his 12-month AFL ban throughout 2008, the then 30-year-old knew he had good footy left in him and just needed a club to take a punt on him.

Richmond stepped up but it wasn’t easy to get the move over the line, he recalled.

“It was a really tough lead-up to getting picked up. There were no guarantees that it was ever going to happen,” Cousins told The Front Bar.

“I was the last pick in the last draft and I was really keen to get an opportunity to play — it came about at the death knock and I was just rapt to be playing footy.”

Cousins played 32 games for the Tigers in 2009 and 2010, averaging 23 touches a game, including consecutive games of 30, 35 and 31 disposals in 2009.

Cousins was given a second AFL chance by Richmond. Credit: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

He says he will be forever grateful to the Tigers for giving him a second chance.

“I don’t like Richmond — I love Richmond,” he said.

“I will forever stay connected to the group and the footy club because they played such an important part in my life, which far exceeds football.

“But even in just a pure football sense, one of the great things about not finishing up at West Coast was the opportunity to come here (to Melbourne) and play football.

“I’d spent 10 years coming every second week, (so) by the time I moved here, probably three of my closest five mates lived here.

“But it wasn’t until I got into the fabric and lived here that I learned to love the place, Melbourne, but Richmond was a big part of that.

“We had some tough times on the field, but even after I finished up, to just sit back as a supporter and fan of the footy club from afar, to be on the ride with the Tigers, there were a good eight or nine guys (that I played with) that went on to play in premierships and steer the club through a dynasty.

“To watch that from afar has been one of the great joys of my footy life.”

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