Ben Cousins - Such is Life

[Gyoza]

Very surprised I'm getting in first with this....the shitness of the Dons really does seem to have sunk the board into an all time level of apathy.

Anyway....thoughts on the doco after seeing Part 1?

Only real surprise for me was how much his family (and in particular his sister) did seem to know about the way things were going,
The way Ben speaks now compared to two years ago he either has a much greater understanding of the seriousness of events and his situation, or has become a much more polished media performer. In a lot of the early post 2007 video he still presents an attitude of carefree recollection, whereas I don't see him putting forward the same sort of "so what?" face to the media anymore now.

Overall definitely worth the watch but lacking enough detail to be brilliant in my mind. Stuff like "when Ben came back to training he started causing problems rather than leading the way" (or words to that effect) are all ok, but where's the guts of the story? What exactly did he do? I guess this is the sort of thing a book can bring out that you just can't cover in a 2 hour TV show.

[lozza89]

Yeah, i was also very surprised at how much this family new about it.
One thing i want to know is, he started taking illicit drugs at the age of 17 (when he was first draft) where in the world was the Anti Drug Dopping Agency for close to 10 years? How could someone who possibly took as many drugs as he could not get caught for 10 years??

[Rossoneri]

Stopped watching it when that fatcunt Smith was on it.

Loser!

[BenDoolan]

How has he not failed any AFL drug test?

[Mrs Mercuri]

I just finished watching it and Im really glad that i did decide to tape it.... one word WOW....

I dont think anyone fully realised just how much shit he was in, and all the crap that his family had to go through during the darkest days of 2007/2008...

Very powerful viewing.

[Megan]

Mixed feelings about it...

I think anyone who thinks it's glorifying drug use need to watch it again - I never got that. But I also didn't think it was exactly putting kids off of drug use either... it seemed like almost a PR exercise to me. Like Ben trying to explain his story, which was facinating to watch but... I felt it could've been so much more.

The interviews after the telecast were interesting - his father saying how Ben had been suicidal - why wasn't THAT in the doco? Where was the talking about that, and the paranoid, the depression that comes with drug use? It felt like a lot of it was glossed over, and to mention the caffine tablet thing in one sentence and then move on what... questionable. Made him look guilty.

I still think he looks a little smug about the whole thing, but I suspect that's more how he comes across than him actually FEELING smug about it.

Would love to see the 100 hours on the cutting room floor. I think a few scenes were really... poignant, and telling. But then only tested the waters and then went back to stuff that was comfortable, that made Ben look better.

Enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite what I expected.

[grassy1]

One thing -

Did he Look HUB MAINWARING IN THE EYE and HONESTLY Say He had NO PART in CHRIS' Downfall?

That's 1 thing I DEMAND to know IF my Club is Thinking of Hiring his SERVICES as CAPTAIN/COACH.

He may be AFL Retired,.......but from AUSSIE RULES Completely?

[5Alive]

Grassy where do you think he got his habits from you spend your time around footy enough to surely have heard the same stuff I have re Mainwaring and Cousins.. Mainwaring made the decision to do what he did that night end of story