Kennett wrong on Cousins interview

Shock! Hold the front page! Jeff Kennett has got it wrong. “WTF?,” we imagine you all thinking. Imagine Jeff getting it wrong? Who would have thought it? Indeed.

 

Whilst AussieRulesBlog would agree that the interview on On the Couch accorded overdue weight to Cousins’ well-publicised addiction, Kennett’s apparently semi-informed, dial-a-quote, day-late response was, predictably, ill-considered and over the top.

 

“''No doubt Ben agreed to be there but the three interviewers just continually went on about his past… ,” Kennett is quoted as saying.

 

The fact is, Jeff, Cousins was only doing the interview because of his past — Brownlow medallist, club captain, Premiership player, self-confessed drug addict. Which bit of that combination doesn’t scream human interest and compelling television to you, Jeff?

 

More to the point, Jeff, whilst we second your call for the media to stop hounding Cousins, the man obviously saw the interview as an opportunity to lay out his side of the story in a public forum, without the intervening lens of increasingly tabloid-style repackaging that would inevitably accompany an interview for a print story.

 

Cousins displayed, in our view, a degree of honesty and openness about the drug issues in his life and the importance of football and Richmond’s faith in him in his rehabilitation that could only be inspiring. Leadership pours out of every pore on his body. Paradoxically, the kids at Richmond may be the most fortunate young players in the AFL if they can absorb the positives that radiated from Cousins’ every answer.

 

One other thing, Jeff. We’ve seen many more appalling interviews — those you gave during your political career, for a start. Had you been as honest as Cousins, you might still be Premier!

 

By the way, Scott Spits (who wrote the Age piece), had you bothered to watch On the Couch, or a tape of it, or one of the many You-tube uploads, you would have known that James Hird was in absentia, replaced for the night by Brian Taylor. Which leads us to wonder whether you are quoting Kennett or merely paraphrasing a third- or fourth-hand account.