Cousins won the 2005 Brownlow Medal.Credit: Getty Images
Cousins has been employed by Channel Seven reading the sports news in Perth and is slated to appear on Seven’s Dancing with the Stars, having previously worked part-time at his former club, the Eagles, who have been pleased to see him showing signs of good health following his longstanding battles with drug abuse.
Cousins retired from the AFL in 2010, following two years at Richmond. As a six-time All-Australian, Brownlow medallist (2005), AFL Players Association most valuable player (2005) and premiership player, he would be a certain inclusion if not for his off-field blemishes.
Cousins, like all players, would be eligible five years after his retirement and he would have gone in almost as soon as he was eligible, if not for his behavioural issues.
While West Coast have not officially nominated Cousins to be in the hall of fame – clubs can nominate their players and coaches, though this is not mandatory to be inducted – the club’s chairman, Paul Fitzpatrick, expressed the view that Cousins should be inducted in an ABC radio interview on Saturday.
Players from Adelaide and Port Adelaide link arms on Thursday night.Credit: AFL Photos
Carey, according to the AFL, was understanding of the decision and did not attend the function so as not to distract from those who were recognised.
Carey, inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2010, was also one of the 100 inaugural inductees into the NSW hall of fame announced in March by AFL NSW/ACT head Tiffany Robertson.
Carey, a former football columnist for The Age, pleaded guilty to indecent assault after grabbing a woman’s breast in 1995. The woman filed a civil suit against him, which was settled out of court.
He was arrested in the US in 2007 and charged with assaulting a female police officer in 2007 after his then-girlfriend, Kate Neilson, accused him of smashing a wine glass against her face. He pleaded guilty to assaulting and resisting Miami police but escaped conviction. Neilson did not press charges.
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