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Former AFL Star Ben Cousins in Hospital After Directing Traffic on a Perth Highway

Police officers told the ABC that no charges have been laid as the incident is being treated as a mental health issue.

Footy fans will be familiar with Ben Cousins' tumultuous past. The 2005 Brownlow Medalist went through one of football's most infamous falls from grace in 2007 after several incidents surrounding drug issues lead to a year-long ban. He also featured in a tell-all documentary about his addiction to ice in 2010 which appeared on national television. Then there was the story last year of him turning up inside a Perth military base, disoriented and confused.

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The latest chapter in Ben Cousins' story came on Sunday night when he was taken to hospital following an incident with police on a busy Western Australian highway. Officers confirmed they had taken the former West Coast and Richmond player in for treatment after three units responded to calls of a man behaving erratically on the road.

7 News reported that Cousins was directing traffic in the middle of the highway, trying to hitchhike and attempted to jump on the back of a motorbike before the rider drove off. He was seen with window washers for several hours near the Canning Bridge in Como before heading to the road himself.

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"We were standing right there and one metre in front of us a red motorbike stopped and he ripped him off," a witness told Yahoo News. "He (the motorcyclist) jumped back on his bike and took off.

"He (Cousins) was trying to hitchhike. He was fried."

Another witness, Craig Stevens, told news.com.au that Cousins was "off on his own planet".

"He was really lost, confused, making no sense at all. Seven or eight cop cars turned up left, right and centre. They even had the helicopter above us," Stevens said.

Police later denied any use of a helicopter in response to the incident.

Cousins was reportedly chased into nearby bushes where he was restrained by six police officers before being taken to Fiona Stanley Hospital in an ambulance for treatment around 7:30 PM.

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Police officers told the ABC that no charges have been laid as the incident is being treated as a mental health issue.

Ben Cousins was named the AFL Rising Star in 1996 and was a legitimate superstar at his peak. He went on to captain West Coast and win the Brownlow Medal—the game's highest accolade—in the midst of six All-Australian selections. But following West Coast's 2006 AFL Premiership win, things took a turn for the worse. Cousins was suspended by the club in early 2007 and sent to an American rehabilitation centre, before being arrested for drug possession in October of the same year.

After serving a 12 month ban imposed by the AFL, Richmond threw Cousins a lifeline when they selected him in the pre-season draft in 2008. Richmond were the only team willing to draft the prodigious talent and he went on to play 32 games for the Tigers. Terry Wallace coached the club at the time and described the unique situation surrounding Cousins to The Herald Sun.

"This was a young man that was in a very bad way," he said. "If we decided not to give him the opportunity to get his footy together, which meant getting his life together, how would we feel if in eight or 10 weeks we woke up one morning and all of a sudden there was a news bulletin and something horrific had happened?"

West Coast Eagles Chief Executive Trevor Nisbett expressed his concern for Cousins on Channel Nine's The Footy Show. "I worry every day. We would like him to be healthy and well and getting on with his life like a 36 or 37-year-old should be doing," he said.

If you or someone you know needs support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.