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One thing that really surprises me about this thread is that the general consesnus amongst a large number of forumites is that Ben Cousins is somewhat an evil person
if he comes to our club he'll bring drugs, booze and a violent culture ala Underbelly. Plus he'll inflict drug use onto our younger players... coz surely rather than relapse in private (start using at home or away), he'll bring drugs onto club property and sniff off a sherrin during training while telling Brendon Goddard to not be such a square.
Put him together with Gardiner and they'll go around the city collecting money of dealers and beating up people in clubs and going to Bar20 every night.
I think a few of u guys are really swept up in the media created perception of Ben Cousins that he's like a character off Underbelly.
In my line of work, I spend a lot of time with people who have substance abuse issues... and shock horror they're just like you and me. Not all of them are heartless, souless pricks... infact a lot are very nice down to earth people that have never intentionally hurt anyone
People want to stop... it's just a really really hard thing to change your life.
Ben Cousins is in the unenviable position of not only trying to stop using but completely changing his life. Moving states, moving clubs, not being able to hang out with his friends, having every move he makes scrutinised.
Personally, I'd be very surprised if substance use was really an existing problem for him at the moment... with the amount of resources he has at his disposal and the scrutiny he's under. The greater fear is that the young man's vulnerable to relapse whether it be from stress or going through the gateway of something else...
He seems genuinely to want to change though.
As far as the risk of him being at the club though... what exactly is it.
If he uses, it'll be in secret and he'll be sprung with a drug test... nobody in their right mind is going to bring that stuff into the club. the risk of being reported by a player would be huge.
ANd do we really think that Raph Clarke or Leigh Montagna or Goddard or Kosi, guys that have never used in their lives (i think), professional athletes, are all of a sudden going to start. tehy've all got their own careers to think about.
I actually think that our existing players (and new kids after the draft) are LESS LIKELY to offend if Cousins joins us , than if he does.
Reason being is that if he joins us that:
* there will be a HUGE focus on all St Kilda players, and not just Ben, on any possible drug use. all players will know this and so IMO are less likely to be tempted to indulge.
* the Club will LIFT its effort in drug avoidance and eduction etc (I am sure it will already be high).
Last edited by saintsRrising on Sat 18 Oct 2008 5:36pm, edited 1 time in total.
Flying the World in comfort thanks to FF Points....
JeffDunne wrote:Why do people bother debating with this moron?
Is that all u have to say JD? Pretty pi55 poor IMO. Moron? Because I don't agree with what YOU have to say.
Funny, a lot on here don't like what plugger66 has to say but at least on a lot of issues he takes an unbiased view which is more then I can say for some. I'd say if u removed the rose coloured glasses u might do a bit better, or if horse racing is more your caper, lose the blinkers.
Moron? Sheesh that hurts.
Oh and thanks magic.....I'm only debating the point and defending where necessary. No trolling, no vitriol, no personal attacks.....JD sometimes it's kinda healthy to hear what the opposition have to say.
johnpeterbudgefanclub wrote:
And yes magic my birth apparently was a complicated one, thus the allegiances with "the filth".....
Ahh jpbfc you are one of the few skunks I have met in real life bordering on human
Lance or James??
There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in <redacted>. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a <redacted>investigation followed by <redacted> witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for <redacted>and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense. (Oops just got a spontaneous errection <unredacted>)
JeffDunne wrote:Why do people bother debating with this moron?
Is that all u have to say JD? Pretty pi55 poor IMO. Moron? Because I don't agree with what YOU have to say..
No, I didn't call you a moron because you disagreed with anything I had to say. TBH, I really couldn't give a continental if you agree with anything I've posted on this or any other thread.
I called you a moron because of your implication that you know Cousins would fail a drug test - the "my lips are sealed" comment.
SAINT JUMP wrote:If you guy think, bc is going to win us a gf, think again, harves couldnt do it, and i rate him higher than bc.
Nobody should think he'll win us a flag.
We might win a flag while he's with us but it won't be JUST him that wins it.
He won't win us a flag by himself but he'll make a difference
Legendary wrote:Taking out Harvey and Gehrig, we have one of the younger lists in the AFL.
Add in another 4 new young draftees this year, and we'll have about 1/3 of our list under the age of 21.
That's pretty good stuff IMO.
Yes, but how good are they?
If you dont have the mindset to draft and develop your own,like Hawthorn and Geelong you will struggle.
get off the grass.
Ask yourself are we in the same spot right now that Hawthorn have been for the last 5 years, sitting on the bottom stock piling draft picks?
or Geelong living off their fortunate father son gene pool?
FFS statements like that without context for where WE are as a club are ludicrous.
Cousins TEH FOOTBALLER adds to our midfield easily. OUR job as a club is to manage him off field. I think the club, the coach have shown some balls to take St Kilda fwd - they clearly believe we can challenge for a flag and good on them for that.
Yes. Geelong have their father sons .
Thats funny.
Priority Pick Riewoldt.
#1 Kosi
Priority Pick Luke Ball /pick 2 overall
#pick5 X Clarke
Pick 1 Goddard.
Also brought in by finishing low. Hamill/Gehrig/Black
That far outweighs any father son advantage Geelong had.
Add to that Brookes as afirst and second round pick trade for the Eveerrit deal.
Ackland
McGough
Penny
Guerra
Watts
Gram
Birrs
Schneider
Dempster
Ray
Etc
Want to work out how many first second and third round picks that makes up?
And with whats left.There iare few earlish picks- Which brings us to "not alot coming through" but yes Geelong had it gifted to the have they?
How many picks have Geelong traded away ?
Keep in mind that the best kids are in the first couple of rounds.
But also there has been little success with later picks and rookie picks.
Sure there are a few kids.
The quality is on the poorer end.
So thats why the club prefers to chase veteran 'seconds' players .
Noone has stuck to a plan.
GT spoke about not trading early picks but the lure of the 'sirens' have led the club astray.
Easy options!
It's a mindset.
Oh FFS stay on topic or buy a dog. We are talking bout Ben Cousing and drafting him in PSD and you're inferring we are giving away top draft picks to do this - please list me the top draft pick we are losing on Cousins????????????????
F@rk me OFOURSE GT ventured off his 'take kids at all costs" early days motto - why? cause the picking got harder as we started winning games......we didnt have so many top 5 choices anymore.....AND the side started to win games and mature.
Regardless your in 2004 mode...I agree we dont have as much coming through as we should but I also know we are not in the position to be bottoming out - we HAVE to complement a core thats in its footy prime NOW. That will require some mature players in AND clever drafting to keep bringing in kids - Lyons doing that IMO.
As for Geelong - go throught their father sons and what they had to give up for them then talk about "super recruiting"...
skeptic wrote:One thing that really surprises me about this thread is that the general consesnus amongst a large number of forumites is that Ben Cousins is somewhat an evil person
if he comes to our club he'll bring drugs, booze and a violent culture ala Underbelly. Plus he'll inflict drug use onto our younger players... coz surely rather than relapse in private (start using at home or away), he'll bring drugs onto club property and sniff off a sherrin during training while telling Brendon Goddard to not be such a square.
Put him together with Gardiner and they'll go around the city collecting money of dealers and beating up people in clubs and going to Bar20 every night.
I think a few of u guys are really swept up in the media created perception of Ben Cousins that he's like a character off Underbelly.
In my line of work, I spend a lot of time with people who have substance abuse issues... and shock horror they're just like you and me. Not all of them are heartless, souless pricks... infact a lot are very nice down to earth people that have never intentionally hurt anyone
People want to stop... it's just a really really hard thing to change your life.
Ben Cousins is in the unenviable position of not only trying to stop using but completely changing his life. Moving states, moving clubs, not being able to hang out with his friends, having every move he makes scrutinised.
Personally, I'd be very surprised if substance use was really an existing problem for him at the moment... with the amount of resources he has at his disposal and the scrutiny he's under. The greater fear is that the young man's vulnerable to relapse whether it be from stress or going through the gateway of something else...
He seems genuinely to want to change though.
As far as the risk of him being at the club though... what exactly is it.
If he uses, it'll be in secret and he'll be sprung with a drug test... nobody in their right mind is going to bring that stuff into the club. the risk of being reported by a player would be huge.
ANd do we really think that Raph Clarke or Leigh Montagna or Goddard or Kosi, guys that have never used in their lives (i think), professional athletes, are all of a sudden going to start. tehy've all got their own careers to think about.
great post. most human post ive read on here in a long long time.
Legendary wrote:Taking out Harvey and Gehrig, we have one of the younger lists in the AFL.
Add in another 4 new young draftees this year, and we'll have about 1/3 of our list under the age of 21.
That's pretty good stuff IMO.
Yes, but how good are they?
If you dont have the mindset to draft and develop your own,like Hawthorn and Geelong you will struggle.
get off the grass.
Ask yourself are we in the same spot right now that Hawthorn have been for the last 5 years, sitting on the bottom stock piling draft picks?
or Geelong living off their fortunate father son gene pool?
FFS statements like that without context for where WE are as a club are ludicrous.
Cousins TEH FOOTBALLER adds to our midfield easily. OUR job as a club is to manage him off field. I think the club, the coach have shown some balls to take St Kilda fwd - they clearly believe we can challenge for a flag and good on them for that.
Yes. Geelong have their father sons .
Thats funny.
Priority Pick Riewoldt.
#1 Kosi
Priority Pick Luke Ball /pick 2 overall
#pick5 X Clarke
Pick 1 Goddard.
Also brought in by finishing low. Hamill/Gehrig/Black
That far outweighs any father son advantage Geelong had.
Add to that Brookes as afirst and second round pick trade for the Eveerrit deal.
Ackland
McGough
Penny
Guerra
Watts
Gram
Birrs
Schneider
Dempster
Ray
Etc
Want to work out how many first second and third round picks that makes up?
And with whats left.There iare few earlish picks- Which brings us to "not alot coming through" but yes Geelong had it gifted to the have they?
How many picks have Geelong traded away ?
Keep in mind that the best kids are in the first couple of rounds.
But also there has been little success with later picks and rookie picks.
Sure there are a few kids.
The quality is on the poorer end.
So thats why the club prefers to chase veteran 'seconds' players .
Noone has stuck to a plan.
GT spoke about not trading early picks but the lure of the 'sirens' have led the club astray.
Easy options!
It's a mindset.
Oh FFS stay on topic or buy a dog. We are talking bout Ben Cousing and drafting him in PSD and you're inferring we are giving away top draft picks to do this - please list me the top draft pick we are losing on Cousins????????????????
F@rk me OFOURSE GT ventured off his 'take kids at all costs" early days motto - why? cause the picking got harder as we started winning games......we didnt have so many top 5 choices anymore.....AND the side started to win games and mature.
Regardless your in 2004 mode...I agree we dont have as much coming through as we should but I also know we are not in the position to be bottoming out - we HAVE to complement a core thats in its footy prime NOW. That will require some mature players in AND clever drafting to keep bringing in kids - Lyons doing that IMO.
As for Geelong - go throught their father sons and what they had to give up for them then talk about "super recruiting"...
I am on the topic.
Cousins is coming because because the fundamentals are wrong .
Thats why the risk is being considered.
If the fundamentals were right . List management would be good. Drafting would be good and development would be good. The structures would be right and there would not be a dive for Cousins and the unknown Trojans he brings through the door with him.
"We started to win games so picking got harder" Excellent rationalisation you have there.