Ben Cousins + Michael Gardiner + St Kilda = Trainwreck

[88mph]

St Kilda are favourites to secure Cousins in 2009, reuniting Cousins with old pal Michael Gardiner.

It is no secret that these two have quite colourful past and perhaps a negative influence on each other.

They have together been linked to:

• Gang shootings
• Disposal of weapons
• Melbourne drug binges
• Drunk car crashes
• Underworld figures

I have met Michael Gardiner in Perth before, the guy is a deadset drop kick.

St Kilda is the worst place for Cousins to go, I truely hope for Ben's health, future and life in general he stays away from St Kilda and Michael Gardiner.

Yes St Kilda are in a 'Premership Window' but they must understand that they will be the cause and centre of a trainwreck in 2009 if they draft Cousins.

I guess we can only watch the soap opera unfold

 

[Quixote]

C: Goddard - Ball - Dal Santo
Foll: King - Hayes - Cousins



I'll take it, cheers.

 

[TassieSaint]

That is what I fear, but after all that he's been through and all he'd have to get through just to make it back into the AFL system, making sure he is 100% clean and facing commission after commission, not to mention the extensive planning we'd done and the fact that the slightest of slipups would take away his livelyhood for good SURELY he could not fall back into old habits?

Michael Gardiner hasn't been in any trouble since he's been here, so I think it's safe to assume he's cleaned up his act a bit.

 

[Jatz]

yea would certainly be interesting

 

[dan0z]

they will be fine..

If anything they can help each other out.

 

[JUBJUB]

Ben Cousins + Michael Gardiner + St Kilda = Trainwreck

You could leave out "Ben Cousins + Michael Gardiner +" and the rest of the heading would still be accurate

 

[Ceanag]

Just leave our Ben alone ....
You are all just jealous....

 

[SAINTS 4 07 FLAG]

You could leave out "Ben Cousins + Michael Gardiner +" and the rest of the heading would still be accurate

that was so funny i forgot to laugh.

 

[Prem87]

They will be a great Ruck Rover Combo. I hope they can recapture some of their form together like in '03.

 

[frantelle]

i dont really gives a crap about gardiner but i do hope cousins does make it back and remains clean
hopefully gardiner is no longer a bad influence and vica versa

 

[banana_bus]

They were saying this morning on SEN that Gardiner had completely turned his life around and maybe Cousins heading to the Saints could be good for him.

 

[The Kipster]

C: Goddard - Ball - Dal Santo
Foll: King - Hayes - Cousins



I'll take it, cheers.

you forgot to place who is going to replace Ben when his hammys go twing...you fools will be lucky to get 10 games out of him.....

 

[Feerits Elf]

St Kilda are favourites to secure Cousins in 2009, reuniting Cousins with old pal Michael Gardiner.

Agree

It is no secret that these two have quite colourful past and perhaps a negative influence on each other.

No true Scotsman would say that

They have together been linked to:

• Gang shootings
• Disposal of weapons
• Melbourne drug binges
• Drunk car crashes
• Underworld figures

Agree

I have met Michael Gardiner in Perth before, the guy is a deadset drop kick.

Agree

St Kilda is the worst place for Cousins to go

Disagree

I truely hope for Ben's health, future and life in general he stays away from St Kilda and Michael Gardiner.

Disagree

Yes St Kilda are in a 'Premership Window'

Agree

but they must understand that they will be the cause and centre of a trainwreck in 2009 if they draft Cousins.

Disagree

I guess we can only watch the soap opera unfold

Agree

 

[Black&White]

They were saying this morning on SEN that Gardiner had completely turned his life around and maybe Cousins heading to the Saints could be good for him.

Good for who? Gardiner or Cousins...Two bad eggs together!! Will never work..

 

[Austin_McCrabbs]

C: Goddard - Ball - Dal Santo
Foll: King - Hayes - Cousins



I'll take it, cheers.

Agreed. After all with Cuz at the club it means that somebody like Clinton Jones, Aaron Fiora, Shane Birss, Andrew McQualter or Xavier Clarke have to miss out on the 22.

 

[refresh]

they'll be fine. It was the environment they were previously in

 

[Masten2McKinley]

Saints would be the worse place for Cousins, Gardiiner is half the reason cuz is like this it is going to be the worse thing for Ben and Saints if saints drafted him. plus he has to slid past wce PSD pick 2 first

 

[Plugger35]

They were saying this morning on SEN that Gardiner had completely turned his life around and maybe Cousins heading to the Saints could be good for him.

Yes people keep assuming that just because Gardiner and Cousins were in trouble at West Coast the same will happen at St Kilda. However Gardiner has been on the straight and narrow since he joined the Saints and by all accounts has been a great bloke to have around the club. He has also just been offered a new contract so he must be doing something right. If anything he should be a help to Cousins in turning his life around just like he has himself.

The other thing to remember is that at West Coast both Cousins and Gardiner were senior players, that enjoyed rock star status in Perth, and as a result they had virtually free reign to do as they pleased. It will be a lot different at St Kilda where they are just regular players who have to answer to the existing senior leadership group.

 

[SA HAWK]

It seems like st kilda are desperately topping up their list in an effort to win a flag.

I don't think they will win a flag and it will backfire on them big time in 3-4 years.

 

[Masten2McKinley]

Do you really think so? The place was rotten from the inside out.

BTW your spelling is atrocious Mr Sniff

What is your Source ??????

it funny how when Cousins, Gardiner and Chcik left we havent had one bad off-field incedent apart from Masten getting into a punch up on Aussie Day which had nothing to do with Drugs.

 

[Masten2McKinley]

Yes people keep assuming that just because Gardiner and Cousins were in trouble at West Coast the same will happen at St Kilda. However Gardiner has been on the straight and narrow since he joined the Saints and by all accounts has been a great bloke to have around the club. He has also just been offered a new contract so he must be doing something right. If anything he should be a help to Cousins in turning his life around just like he has himself.

The other thing to remember is that at West Coast both Cousins and Gardiner were senior players, that enjoyed rock star status in Perth, and as a result they had virtually free reign to do as they pleased. It will be a lot different at St Kilda where they are just regular players who have to answer to the existing senior leadership group.

Um if Cousins goes to the Saints he will be your best player along with Riewolt

 

[TassieSaint]

It seems like st kilda are desperately topping up their list in an effort to win a flag.

I don't think they will win a flag and it will backfire on them big time in 3-4 years.

Whilst I'm not comfortable with the amount of players we've recycled in recent years, in this particular instance if we pick up Cousins at say pick 79 or similar, which I assume we will, in what way would that decision backfire on us? Even if his comeback fails, what are the chances of us picking up a decent kid at the same pick? It's like when people have a go at us for recycling King when the fact is that he cost us nothing, we wouldn't have picked up a better kid with that pick and he is well worth his spot on the list.

Um if Cousins goes to the Saints he will be your best player along with Riewolt

No he would not.

 

[cammo84]

It's not like Michael Gardiner alone was the reason for Cousins going off the rails. I think the fact he is away from certain networks of people in Perth would have a big influence on how he copes in the next few seasons. If he were going to drift back into old habits, I think it would happen regardless of wether Gardiner is at the same club as him.

Good luck to the guy, he has copped an unfair ammount of crap over the last year for a habit which - in my opinion - was probably blown way out of proportion by the media, and I hope he makes the most of his second chance, if he is drafted. A champion footballer like Cousins deserves to go out on his own terms.

 

[Plugger35]

Um if Cousins goes to the Saints he will be your best player along with Riewolt

What I meant by being a regular player at the Saints is that he won't be a captain or senior leadership player like he was at the Eagles.

No doubt he still has the potential to be a very good player, whether he can reach the heights he reached at West Coast though remains to be seen. I wouldn't automatically assume he would just step in and be one of our best players, we have plenty of other good players apart from Riewoldt.

 

[SA HAWK]

Whilst I'm not comfortable with the amount of players we've recycled in recent years, in this particular instance if we pick up Cousins at say pick 79 or similar, which I assume we will, in what way would that decision backfire on us? Even if his comeback fails, what are the chances of us picking up a decent kid at the same pick? It's like when people have a go at us for recycling King when the fact is that he cost us nothing, we wouldn't have picked up a better kid with that pick and he is well worth his spot on the list.

I am talking about other players as well like fiora, king, ray, gardiner, schnieder etc.. I don't think they will be good enough to win you a flag.

I think those players are a quick fix when you should have developed young players. Just my opinion.