Ben Cousins recently sat down with Channel Seven for a tell all interview that aired on Sunday night, with no topic off limits.
It was Cousins' first time in front of the camera in this capacity since his "Such is Life" documentary in 2010.
The sit down interview showed Cousins in varying lights - the former Brownlow medalist had some real and vulnerable moments, as well as some concerning moments where he seemed distant and lacked focus.
The TV special also had some strange cameo appearances from West Coast star Nic Natanui, Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe and Home and Away star Lynne McGranger (aka Irene), whom Cousins reached out to via letter after his release from jail.
Speaking on SEN this morning, Melbourne great Garry Lyon joined a number of fans in criticising the structure of the documentary.
โI watched it all and he was vague and evasive,โ Lyon said.
โThere were a couple of moments where he was real and vulnerable. In the end, he was altogether unconvincing.
โI didn't have any preconceived notion (of what to expect). We hadn't seem Ben for 10 years obviously.
โGee whiz, he's a long way from where he was. He's got a look of a man who has lived a really hard life. We know addiction is a terrible thing, and physically it would be so draining on you.โ
Questioned about whether he had used drugs over the five days of filming, Cousins struggled to answer the question directly.
Former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes said he wasn't convinced the 2006 premiership star wanted to get better.
โI donโt think watching Ben, he wants to get better,โ Cornes said on SEN SA.
โHe said at times he wants to get better, but does he really want to get better? No I donโt think he does.
โThere were moments where I think he sounded coherent and was engaging, and there were moments where he was completely off the rails.โ
The appearance of Fyfe stood out as arguably the oddest moment of the documentary, sharing a game of tennis with the 41-year old.
โOne of the strangest things of all is that he had a game of tennis with Nathan Fyfe,โ Lyon said.
โIt was just out of the blue and there was kind of no context to it. He just bobbed up.
โFyfey asked if he liked tennis and he said, 'Yeah I played a lot in jail'. Then they went and played tennis on the lawn courts, Fyfey shook hands, said good luck and he was off.
Cousins spoke about his relationship with his kids, his time in prison and about the break down of his relationship with his family.
Cousins is no longer on speaking terms with his family but expressed an interest in possibly rekindling those relationship.
He said that he felt let down by his father Bryan, but would love to have the chance to talk to him.
"Let's start sorting some stuff out, I need a couple of hundred (dollars) to get some stuff done," Cousins said.
"(I'd say to him) It 's been you and your negative, apprehensive, lack of belief in me that has stopped anything good happening in a long time, my old man doesn't get it."
Cousins said he wants the perfect family life and believes he can still attain that with his two kids.
