When seeing Cousins' bird flipping antic for the first time I thought the bloke must either be mental or he is still on the gear. After the water has flowed in around and under the bridge and each and every person has taken a pot shot (poor choice of words) at him, you look at it in different manners and perspectives. It's like letting the emotional dust settle before flying off the handle of poor loss. Those with preconceived opinions on Cousins as a person, despite not knowing him, had already made their mind up and they're entitled to do so. But I am happy to look at both sides and not hang him or praise him.
It really wasn't a big deal was it? I mean players have been doing it for generations and copping fines for doing so. While a silly act, it can easily be argued that Cousins hasn't angled it directly at anyone in particular even though for mine he was sending a message, albeit a childish one, to the media. Those bird flipping perpetrators before him have put it out there directly at fans, whether their own or opponent's, on the field. They were aimed specifically at whomever.
Cousins got off the plane here and he hasn't been able to take a step without some fame seeking tabloid journo shoving a microphone in his face asking meaningless questions over and over. Nobody really cares about the answers to the questions. "It's good to be back and we're looking forward to the challenge this week and hopefully we'll get a win" is the universal or generic statement he'd roll out. We've heard it time and time again from all players who are automatically programmed and even on the off chance the response may have differed, so what? Is he really going to say something so profoundly interesting or philosophically intriguing which may have the Dalai Lama taking notice or inspire Confucianism? I highly doubt it.
He has cameras on him virtually every minute of the day and it must be infuriating trying to go about your daily life having to step in and around photographers and media people. Yeah sure he is on radio and in the public eye but that shouldn't necessarily mean its open Cousins hunting season. I don't know everyone on here but I would be tipping the majority of us have no idea what that is actually like but I imagine surely you would get to a point where enough is enough and you possibly snap.
It wasn't a clever or smart thing to do and he could possibly express himself in a more measured manner. There was no upside for him in doing it but I don't blame him for doing so or think any less or more of him. With Cousins I kind of half expect something, just like you expect something outrageous from Jason Akermanis.
However, it was surely either a temporary brain freeze or he's heading further down the Frank Sinatra "My Way" path and, for mine, it's about time footballers broke the desired AFL robotic like mould and lived their life their way, to a legal degree, and showed some individual personality rather than a manufactured presence.
He played a ripping game and, even though I was hanging for someone to belt him on the field, Josh and Matt Carr style, I was rapped to see him back playing some bloody good football. Yes he brought everything on himself and yes its probably in his best interests to toe the line but I am staggered and amazingly impressed at what he has been able to do and get over, if he is over it, to get back to not only top level footy but playing like he did on Saturday.
Fine him $500, $1000, $5000 whatever, but do it, forget about it and get on with it. It's not that big an issue. Turn on that chef who goes off his nut and let's fly with the language or put the TV on the music channel, which I did the other day and found three idiots singing a song about being on a boat in ways that gave the chef a red hot run for his money! It will put Cousins' action into some sort of perspective and hopefully ensures that he is not hung for it.
Given the backlash he's copped its seemingly just me that hopes Benny Boy Cousins is out there again next time we play the Tigers because he always brings a bit more excitement to the game when you're playing against him and at the end of the day isn't that why we religiously watch football? For the excitement and the entertainment.