Can't say I would be happy with it either, if I had kids, and they weren't as unco as me.
It's just not the kind of environment you want young men to be in. Especially young men with high disposable incomes and pressure to perform.
Poll: Would you let your son play for WCE.
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Twits
Precisely. And I reckon it will also come down to whether the player moves interstate, be it Brisbane, Sydney, Perth or coming from those cities to Melbourne. Big cities, things happen. Judging Mr and Mrs Cousins from what I have seen on TV, they dont look like bad people. This looks likes a poor choice made by an individual who doesnt give a f*** about anyone.Stocksy wrote:I dont think it matters where they end up Filth, you just hope by the time they are ready to move on & out that they remeber the values that you work on as a parent everyday & keep there feet on the ground...
I'll put a bit of a different slant on it.
I'm literally the same age as Josh Kennedy. Personally, I wouldn't have any problem whatsoever going over there and playing football because I know within myself I wouldn't fall into that shit.
However, I understand the concerns of the parents of future prospects. Like it or not, Mainwerring, Cousins, Chick & Kerr are the poster boys of the West Coast football club at this very moment. Right or wrong, It's very easy to make the connection between the incidents and the club, especially if the person making the connection is a parent of a future player and/or the parent believes their son might fall into the wrong crowd.
The club culture at West Coast is shot to bits with the goings on this past year and in particular this past month. Hopefully it will sort itself out.
I'm literally the same age as Josh Kennedy. Personally, I wouldn't have any problem whatsoever going over there and playing football because I know within myself I wouldn't fall into that shit.
However, I understand the concerns of the parents of future prospects. Like it or not, Mainwerring, Cousins, Chick & Kerr are the poster boys of the West Coast football club at this very moment. Right or wrong, It's very easy to make the connection between the incidents and the club, especially if the person making the connection is a parent of a future player and/or the parent believes their son might fall into the wrong crowd.
The club culture at West Coast is shot to bits with the goings on this past year and in particular this past month. Hopefully it will sort itself out.
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Rover 7
- Regular Senior Player
- Posts: 1449
- Joined: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:54 pm
- Location: South of the Bomber Hanger
Thought Robert Craddock was a cricket writer but from what he writes here he doesn't think much of the West either.
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Cousins case shows West Coast is a shambles of a club
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Robert Craddock COMMENT
October 18, 2007 12:00am
THE West Coast Eagles, that morally bankrupt, shambles of a football club, is about to reap what it has sown.
By shamelessly pandering to its corrupt stars and placing success ahead of scruples West Coast set itself up for the mother of all stumbles.
That day is on us.
Ben Cousins was sacked last night but only because he could end up in jail and has become such a basket case that his very presence is soiling the club's image with its sponsors.
Cousins's departure was an economic decision -- there wasn't an ounce of morality in it.
For that is the way it works in the wild west where disposals mean more than decency and possessions can mean the number of times you have the ball
or the number of times you have been caught with illegal substances.
It's the club where, as long as you can finish high in the Brownlow Medal count, you're pretty much bulletproof.
Quite frankly, the club, and its bully-boy administration, stink.
History will record West Coast Eagles have two codes of discipline for their problem children.
If you are expendable like party boy Aaron Edwards or Michael Gardiner (as his knees went), you get mercilessly shipped east to another club or de-listed.
If you are a gilt-edged star like Cousins or Daniel Kerr, you have to be Ronald Biggs or Al Capone to get punted.
Kerr forged valium prescriptions, assaulted a cab driver and was caught in a police drugs sting yet still remains a hero at the Weagles. Club officials have said they were first tipped off about the drug culture six years ago. Former coach Ken Judge alerted them and was later sacked.
When the club asked the players they steadfastly denied the allegations. Gee, there's a surprise.
What did they expect the players to say . . . "it's funny that you ask about drugs because I've actually been whacked out of my head for the past six months . . . like some?"
To understand the Eagles you have to understand Perth. It is a city a long way from anywhere. Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe or the Packers don't live there.
Very few truly famous people do. Gossip columns are full of the West Coast Eagles.
Even up-and-coming West Coast players who have played a handful of matches are better recognised than fringe Test cricket candidates such as Chris Rogers.
"The Eagles are our rock stars," said one local journalist.
"They are beautifully connected to the top end of town. Everyone wants to know them. Laws have been bent for them. Excuses have been made for them. The club's administration is full of bully boys who intimidate journalists.
"They say that when Cousins was up on that charge of running from a booze bus many of the magistrates didn't want to sit on it.
"When troubled times occur police have occasionally said, 'come on boys let's wind it up', rather than take action."
But the mood of local police has changed since Cousins and Gardiner last year refused to answer questions into why a local gangster phoned them soon after a nightclub shooting.
When they were secretly questioned by police last year media outlets were quietly phoned by police who suggested they might like to send a photographer to the court house.
Even on Monday, when Cousins was nabbed by the police, television camera crews were there, waiting. One even had a tripod set up.
Cousins, as usual, still had that infuriating smirk on his face, a man out of touch with the world that has lost patience with him."
"
Cousins case shows West Coast is a shambles of a club
Article from: The Courier-Mail
Robert Craddock COMMENT
October 18, 2007 12:00am
THE West Coast Eagles, that morally bankrupt, shambles of a football club, is about to reap what it has sown.
By shamelessly pandering to its corrupt stars and placing success ahead of scruples West Coast set itself up for the mother of all stumbles.
That day is on us.
Ben Cousins was sacked last night but only because he could end up in jail and has become such a basket case that his very presence is soiling the club's image with its sponsors.
Cousins's departure was an economic decision -- there wasn't an ounce of morality in it.
For that is the way it works in the wild west where disposals mean more than decency and possessions can mean the number of times you have the ball
or the number of times you have been caught with illegal substances.
It's the club where, as long as you can finish high in the Brownlow Medal count, you're pretty much bulletproof.
Quite frankly, the club, and its bully-boy administration, stink.
History will record West Coast Eagles have two codes of discipline for their problem children.
If you are expendable like party boy Aaron Edwards or Michael Gardiner (as his knees went), you get mercilessly shipped east to another club or de-listed.
If you are a gilt-edged star like Cousins or Daniel Kerr, you have to be Ronald Biggs or Al Capone to get punted.
Kerr forged valium prescriptions, assaulted a cab driver and was caught in a police drugs sting yet still remains a hero at the Weagles. Club officials have said they were first tipped off about the drug culture six years ago. Former coach Ken Judge alerted them and was later sacked.
When the club asked the players they steadfastly denied the allegations. Gee, there's a surprise.
What did they expect the players to say . . . "it's funny that you ask about drugs because I've actually been whacked out of my head for the past six months . . . like some?"
To understand the Eagles you have to understand Perth. It is a city a long way from anywhere. Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe or the Packers don't live there.
Very few truly famous people do. Gossip columns are full of the West Coast Eagles.
Even up-and-coming West Coast players who have played a handful of matches are better recognised than fringe Test cricket candidates such as Chris Rogers.
"The Eagles are our rock stars," said one local journalist.
"They are beautifully connected to the top end of town. Everyone wants to know them. Laws have been bent for them. Excuses have been made for them. The club's administration is full of bully boys who intimidate journalists.
"They say that when Cousins was up on that charge of running from a booze bus many of the magistrates didn't want to sit on it.
"When troubled times occur police have occasionally said, 'come on boys let's wind it up', rather than take action."
But the mood of local police has changed since Cousins and Gardiner last year refused to answer questions into why a local gangster phoned them soon after a nightclub shooting.
When they were secretly questioned by police last year media outlets were quietly phoned by police who suggested they might like to send a photographer to the court house.
Even on Monday, when Cousins was nabbed by the police, television camera crews were there, waiting. One even had a tripod set up.
Cousins, as usual, still had that infuriating smirk on his face, a man out of touch with the world that has lost patience with him."