Fallen drug addict Ben Cousins admitted himself into rehab after family and friends abandoned him, fed up with his drug use.
It was a strategic move by about five of his closest friends in a bid to give him a wake-up call.
The former AFL star remained in a Perth hospital for a third day yesterday with head injuries in a fall at a rehab clinic.
It is believed the Brownlow Medal winner was admitted on Monday after hitting his head on a wash basin after slipping while getting out of the shower.
A close friend said Cousins hit rock bottom a few weeks before Christmas, with friends voicing their concerns.
“He has struggled late last year and as a result people tried to help him,” the friend said.
“But we had to let him go. We said: ‘Enough is enough, get on with it, you are on your own, buddy. We are sick and tired of trying to help you if you are not going to help yourself.
“He had been going through a difficult time for quite a while now.”
Friends said they were pleased when Cousins, who has a baby son, checked himself into rehab.
Neighbours said Cousins had not been home for at least a week.
“I haven’t seen him for a while, about a week,” a neighbour said. “I heard his girlfriend talking to someone loudly out the front on the weekend. He lives there with his girlfriend and their baby.”
Cousins’ partner Maylea Tinecheff and his parents were not seen at the hospital yesterday.
Cousins welcomed his first child, Bobby Ernest Cousins, with Tinecheff in September.
A spokeswoman for Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital yesterday said it was unclear when Cousins would be released.
“Ben Cousins is under observation after hitting his head following a fall,” she said. “I can confirm he is in a stable condition.”
Cousins, sacked by the West Coast Eagles in 2007 and suspended for 12 months by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute, bared all about his drug addiction in a warts-and-all documentary.
Buford Balony says: I’m sick of this prick. He gets his hand held wherever he goes and still can’t sort his shit out. He clearly loves himself more than anything, even his new kid. COUSINS IS A TOOL.
