Ben Cousins. Just Like Ewe and Me

Yesterday Anthony Mundine brought ice loving former West Coast Eagles captain Ben Cousins to Redfern.

Along with Canterbury Bulldogs star Sonny Bill Williams and former olympic gold medallist Nova Peris-Kneebone (remember her?) Cousins and Mundine talked about drugs. It was the first time Cousins had spoken publicly about his addiction and the media were salivating.

In a sweltering gymnasium Cousins spoke briefly about his fondness for Drano based stimulants while Mundine looked on like a proud uncle.

He didn't give too much away but I thought the most revealing part of Cousins' confession was when he said "at the end of the day I ran the gauntlet, deep down I don't think I really had a choice....for a lot of people they don't choose to do it, in a lot of ways it chooses them."

Sounds to me like someone might still be struggling with the concept of taking responsibility for your own actions.

Ultimately, and unfortunately given the sorry state of Redfern and the importance of addressing drug abuse, the Mundine/Cousins show was a pointless exercise. What advice could Cousins realistically offer to the downtrodden of Redfern. He doesn't seem to think steering clear of drugs is a realistic option because apparently drugs choose you rather than the other way around and his method of getting clean was to fly to LA and go to a hellishly expensive rehab facility. Now, I could be wrong but I can't see too many Redfern residents having the cash to do that.

In the end all we saw was a prefab opportunity for an overprivileged millionaire to make excuses for his behaviour.

Look, I admire the bloke for getting off drugs. It's probably the most difficult thing he will ever have to do in his life and I applaud him for it. But don't sit there and give me that shit about the addiction choosing you and trying to compare your experience to that of the itinerant population of the Block. It just makes you sound like a dickhead.

What was Mundine thinking getting Cousins in the first place? It's like getting Donald Trump to give a property investment seminar in Somalia.