{"id":391759,"date":"2024-05-08T00:52:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T00:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=391759"},"modified":"2024-05-08T02:04:34","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T02:04:34","slug":"afls-final-call-on-ben-cousins-hall-of-fame-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=391759","title":{"rendered":"AFL's final call on Ben Cousins Hall of Fame future"},"content":{"rendered":"

F\ufefformer West Coast Eagles star Ben Cousins<\/a> will not be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame anytime soon, it has been revealed.<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame will elevate Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall to Legend status<\/a>\ufeff in June, alongside several other members who will join the prestigious group.<\/p>\n

The committee "has not seriously debated Cousins as a prospective member", according to The Age, indicating that Cousins' past indiscretions are a major factor<\/a> as to why he hasn't yet been added.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Super League standout Lachlan Lam eyeing off potential NRL return as Roosters circle<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> First lot of Aussie track and field athletes selected for Paris Games as 68-year hope builds<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Cousins' career, which included the 2005 Brownlow medal and \ufeffa premiership with the Eagles in 2006, ended controversially, with the star sacked by West Coast in 2007, before returning to finish his career at Richmond.<\/p>\n

The six-time All-Australian\ufeff spent time behind bars after his footballing career came to a sour end.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

The following years were\ufeff full of controversy, before the 45-year-old began taking steps to turn his life around, taking on television roles in Perth across 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But despite the former Eagle-turned-Tiger taking active steps to redeem himself, as well as a long list of on-field accolades, the AFL had already shut down talks of ever adding him to the roll of greats.<\/p>\n

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe\/follow via<\/strong><\/em> Apple<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,<\/strong><\/em> Spotify<\/strong><\/em><\/a> or<\/strong><\/em> Google Podcasts<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

And that conversation came well before the AFL's stand against gender-based violence during their round eight fixtures.<\/p>\n

Before all nine games across the round, clubs stood arm in arm in the centre circle to shine a spotlight on gender-based violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

The initiative was the brain child of West Coast CEO and former Adelaide Crows coach Don Pyke.\ufeff<\/p>\n

In the wake of the gesture, Caroline Wilson \ufeffslammed the league<\/a> and explained how its celebration of former players with troubled histories made the minute's silence feel shallow.<\/p>\n

"The AFL's well-intentioned stand against gender-based violence was always going to hit some hurdles given the game's dubious past in this tragic social problem," Wilson said on Nine's Footy Classified<\/em> on Monday night.<\/p>\n

"Too many players very recently have been lauded by the media and the game with poor pasts.<\/p>\n

\"Wayne<\/p>\n

"Notably, Dani Laidley and Ben Cousins."<\/p>\n

Wilson's comments came after the AFL\ufeff failed to remember that the weekend they took a stand against gender-based violence, Wayne Carey, who has previously been accused of domestic violence, was being recognised by the sport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon made a call to Carey on the eve of round eight, informing the North Melbourne champion that he personally decided to prevent the elevation to Legend status at a Sydney event on the Friday night.<\/p>\n

The CEO expressed concerns about the move considering the previous allegations against Carey.<\/p>\n

"How is it that the AFL did not know that Wayne Carey was going to be made a legend in the NSW Hall of Fame?" Wilson asked.<\/p>\n

"That was miscommunication of the highest order."<\/p>\n

The league did step in to block Carey from receiving the honour.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

F\ufefformer West Coast Eagles star Ben Cousins will not be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame anytime soon, it has been revealed. The […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":391764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=391759"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":391767,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391759\/revisions\/391767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/391764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=391759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=391759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=391759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}