Ben Cousins is prepared to match the AFL’s stricter drug policy next season – including the rule that players testing positive on game day will cost their team premiership points.
The former Brownlow Medalist is still hopeful of convincing the league he has overcome a drug addiction in order to be given permission to return to football after a 12-month ban, and his manager Ricky Nixon says Cousins will do whatever it takes.
“Whatever rules they want to put in place, we’re here to accept them,” Nixon told Fairfax.
“Footy is the absolute priority for Ben’s rehabilitation, and if that means they (the AFL) want to keep putting bridges or hurdles or whatever in the way, we’re just going to keep walking over them or jumping them.”
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou said this week a team could have a win taken away if a player is found to have tested positive to drugs on match day,
The competition’s new anti-doping rules say sanctions can be imposed on teams with more than one drug offender.
“If more than one player in a club is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation during a season, the club may be subject to sanctions to be determined, in their absolute discretion, by the commission,” the code states.
Nixon said the stricter rules are acting as an incentive for Cousins to kick the drug habit.
“I met with a club today and we discussed it and we all thought that it’s actually quite an incentive to make sure that Ben complies,” he said.
