AFL greats Brendan Fevola and and Ben Cousins have shared details of a night they spent with each other at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.
Cousins is currently in Melbourne and appeared on Fevola’s breakfast radio show on Fox, Fifi, Fev & Nick.
The former stars are well-known for off-field dramas which haunted both of them after their AFL careers ended.
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Now, they have revealed they have a deeper connection after accidentally spending a night together at Crown back in 2011.
Fevola was at the casino to celebrate good mate (and former Richmond captain) Chris Newman’s engagement to Lauren Poulter.
And Fevola said he was heading up to his room in a lift when he bumped into Cousins.
“I was like, ‘G’day mate, how are you going?’, and something had happened with your rental car and you couldn’t get to the airport. You’d missed your plane, and you said, ‘Can I stay with you tonight?’”
Cousins, who had a high-profile drug battle after he retired — admitted that such a scenario was not a one off.
“Yeah, that did happen every now and then,” Cousin said.
Fevola then recalled they went up to his room on the 33rd floor and then spent a long night together, “chewing the fat”.
“You had a couple of phones, you kept taking the battery out, and then you’re charging the battery. I’m like, ‘Are you alright, mate?’ And he’s like, ‘I just don’t know.’
“And we sat there all night, and I didn’t go to sleep because I was a bit worried about Ben. And we sat and chatted for about seven hours until you left the next morning. We got in deep to some stuff. And I couldn’t believe how worried I was about you. You worried about me.
“Two cooked units sitting there, chewing the fat, talking about life. How did you turn it around?”
Cousins has since got his life on track and now has a career in the media with the Channel 7 news team in Western Australia.
He has also joined a Perth radio breakfast team, Mix94.5, and is about to appear on the Seven hit show Dancing With the Stars.
He said it was hard to put his change of fate down to one thing or moment.
“Unfortunately, when I think about it now, I do wish that it didn’t have to run its course the way it did,” he said.
“It wasn’t through lack of wanting to turn it around at times, but it’s just, it’s just a complicated thing. But I do remember that night (at Crown) fondly.
“We’ve always had a good time when we’ve caught up, but I wasn’t going too well at that time.”
Fevola said he wasn’t either.
Cousins said: “I do give it to you … Even after that night, there was a number of times that I received a call personally, or someone close to me did, from Fev, who would call up just to make sure I was going alright.
“We are good mates. I want to say you’ve got a good heart and want good things for other people.”
Fevola revealed that for the next 18 months or so after that night he would ring Cousins once or twice a month to see how he was going.
“We didn’t hang out often, but I’d just call him to check in,” Fevola said.
“You’ve done a great job, and it’s a credit to you. All the people out there going through issues, you can always turn it around.”