Mr Cousins hangs up his boots:AAP report

Aug 16, 2010

Ben Cousins' imminent retirement will see him exit the supportive environment of an AFL club with little to fall back on "except his drug history", a doctor has warned.

Dr Ray Seidler, an addiction specialist and GP based in Sydney's Kings Cross, said the end of Cousins' playing career later this month could trigger a tumultuous time for the 32-year-old.

Cousins' family, and broader support group, would need to rally around him to reduce the risk of a relapse into drug abuse, Dr Seidler said.

"His whole existence is bound up in football and to announce his retirement, at age 32, means he will have to make some major adjustments in his life," Dr Seidler told AAP on Tuesday.

"These sorts of life changes lead to destabilisation of people who have addiction, and very often it can lead to them going off the rails unless there is somebody watching them fairly closely.

"It may be an opportunity for him, but on the other hand it may be a crisis."

Dr Seidler said Cousins, like many professional athletes who retired at an age when most people were establishing their careers, would need to find a "new way to rationalise his existence - his raison d'etre".

His retirement from football would feel like "losing your job ... an extremely well paid job where you're in the public eye, to then suddenly slip from view into obscurity".

Dr Seidler said the transition was not easy, particularly so in the case of a retiring athlete who had battled with drug addiction.

"Ben, it seems to me, doesn't have much to fall back on except his drug history .... I think he needs a lot of support and redirection."

Upon returning to the sport with Richmond in 2009, Cousins agreed to a strict regime imposed by the AFL whereby he was required to undergo drug-detecting urine tests up to three times weekly and hair tests four times per year.

Cousins confirmed his impending retirement on Tuesday morning and said he would now pursue business interests in Melbourne.

He wants to maintain close ties with his current club Richmond and said he would like to undertake a mentoring role with young people "down the track".

Cousins made his AFL debut as an 18-year-old at West Coast, where he won the 2005 Brownlow Medal and played a key role in their 2006 premiership in a decorated career.

But his on-field brilliance masked off-field drug abuse, a problem that came to a head in 2007 and prompted a year-long ban from the game.

Cousins' past two seasons with Richmond also included a hospital admission following an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

Dr Seidler also said it was too early for Cousins to take on a role in drug education, or warning of the dangers of addiction.

"I don't know that he could be a poster boy ... he has just had a recent admission to hospital and I don't think he can brush that aside," Dr Seidler said.

"He is too close to the fire still."

Cousins' final game will be against Port Adelaide, in Melbourne, on August 29.