Ben Cousins has done it again. He has attracted the attention of Frownlow judges. This time, Cousins helped Daniel Connors earn a nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame by giving him a black eye.
Cousins punched his teammate Connors during a drunken rampage outside a Sydney hotel in 2010, which earned Connors an eight-match suspension from Richmond.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. Kiwi international Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015 before Corey Norman in 2016 and Tim Simona in 2017.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
Connors was suspended again by Richmond due to alcohol related incidents in 2011 and was eventually sacked by the Tigers in 2012 for failing to attend training. The reason he missed training is that he had misused sleeping medication, which he had taken with his housemate at the time – Dustin Martin. Yes, the same Dustin Martin who won it all in 2017 and was also nominated for The Frownlow Medal for once threatening to stab a woman in the eye with chopsticks at a Japanese restaurant.
Connors may not need the help of Cousins or Dusty, however, because he also pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering serious injury and failing to leave a licensed premises in 2016. On this occasion, he attempted to punch a man while threatening him and later attacked him with a broken beer glass, leaving the man with a severed tendon. Connors also threatened security staff and resisted their attempts to remove him from the premises.
Connors may have a chance to return the favour to Cousins later in 2018 if he is successful in joining Cousins in The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
Image:Nuna
The Frownlow Medal 