Port Adelaide Keep Open Ben Cousins Option

PORT Adelaide is poised to "discuss" drafting Ben Cousins after the Brownlow Medallist was cleared to play by the AFL commission yesterday.

While Adelaide coach Neil Craig last week firmly shut the door on recruiting Cousins, the Power has maintained interest in bringing the hard-running midfielder to Alberton.

And Power operations manager Peter Rohde – admitting the likelihood of landing Cousins was slim – refused to rule out manoeuvring the club's draft picks in order to snare the former Eagles captain.

Port is almost certainly going to use its No. 4 pick in nextmonth's pre-season draft to claim 2004 premiership hero Josh Carr, who is already training with the club.

But if Cousins – a recovering drug addict – showed interest in coming to South Australia, Rohde said Port wouldn't be afraid to use its No. 4 pick for Cousins ahead of Brisbane (No. 7) and St Kilda (No. 13).

It would then use a second pick in the pre-season draft to ensure Carr resumed his career under Port coach Mark Williams.

"If any club is interested in him they can make a plan," Rohde said.

"We could leave two picks for the pre-season draft – that's always a possibility. Not that many clubs do it anymore, but that wouldn't stop us from doing it."

Despite the AFL commission carefully examining Cousins' rehabilitation process, Rohde said Port would do the same to ensure the club was making the right decision.

"We'll certainly discuss it as a group but I doubt very much we'll be going down that path," Rohde said of drafting Cousins.

"If we did decide we had some real interest in him we'd talk to him, through all the issues, and why he has been out of the game for the past year or two.

"We'd have to be convinced all that's behind him but, to be perfectly honest, he doesn't really fit into our recruiting plan."

With Port all but committed to taking on 28-year-old Carr, drafting another mature-age recruit in 30-year-old Cousins would certainly boost the club's inexperienced squad.

But this must be balanced with taking on two veterans rather than one, in Carr.

"We probably don't see Ben as a high priority in terms of what we've got on the list at the moment," Rohde said.

"Whereas Josh has got history with us obviously and, character-wise, we know very well he'll fit back into our place."

Craig told The Advertiser last week he would be "very surprised" if Cousins relocated to the City of Churches.

"First of all I would be very surprised if Ben Cousins would want to come to Adelaide," Craig said.

"And with where we are going with our playing group (rebuilding with youth) Ben doesn't fit into our structure at all.

"I hope he plays again – whoever gets him will get a very fine player – but for our football club he's not what we want."

Rohde said the possibility of Cousins recapturing his stunning best was keeping Port's interest alive. "There's no doubt he's a very talented player," Rohde said.

"He was in the best couple of players in the competition only three years ago. He's had a year off which would have given him a chance to get over some injuries and freshen up a bit.

"A year out of competition, the game moves on very quickly, so it's going to take a little while to get his body reconditioned. But there's no reason why he can't be a very good player. Whether he gets back to where he was before I'm not sure but he'll still be a handy player.

"Everyone would love to see him get back in the game and make a go of it, for his long-term future as much as anything else."

The AFL Commission yestyerday afternoon announced it had granted the disgraced former West Coast Eagles star's application to resume his AFL career in 2009.

The AFL will impose several conditions - including that his club has an appropriate drug testing policy, Cousins be subjected to urine testing up to three times a week, and hair testing up to four times a year.

Cousins was sacked by the West Coast Eagles after being involved in several off-field incidents - and admitted that he had a problem with drug addiction.

The decision means the 30-year midfield star is now free to join St Kilda, should the club decide to draft him next month.

Under the conditions laid down by the AFL, Cousins must attend any rehabilitation programs or meetings with experts specified by the AFL.

Demetriou said that if Cousins failed to co-operate with the drug-testing program set out for him in any way, or returned a positive test, his penalty would be at the absolute discretion of the league's football operations manager or the AFL Commission.

Their power would include the ability to instantly suspend Cousins pending the outcome of an investigation into his alleged offence.