RELIEF rather than joy was Ben Cousins’ reaction on being told his AFL career had been rescued at the 11th hour.

Richmond made the decision late on Monday evening to take the former Eagle with their only pick in the NAB AFL Pre-season Draft.

Tigers coach Terry Wallace said Cousins’ reaction was pretty much what you would expect from a player taken at the last possible instant.

“I think it was genuine relief – he’s been through a rollercoaster of emotions,” Wallace said.

“I think it’s fair to say that a lot of those scenarios have come and gone, whether it be St Kilda, Brisbane, Collingwood over a recent period of time.

“I think Ben will speak for himself, but he knows that he’s created what has come his way, but he’s determined to do something about that.

“Obviously, we all hope that he can.”

Wallace said the return of Cousins was a good-news story.

“There’s a lot of bad-news stories going around in the world, and there’s a lot of bad-news stories that go around in sport, and to be honest, the bad-news stories take up more newspaper room than the good-news stories do these days,” Wallace said.

“Look, it’d be a wonderful story if he can get it together and get it right, and he now has that opportunity.”

Perth is an intense cauldron of AFL media scrutiny, especially when things go off the rails, so Wallace said he wasn’t worried about the attention Cousins was sure to cop in Melbourne.

“He’s coming from a football town as well, I think that’s got to be clear,” Wallace said.

“You come from a two-team town, and particularly where the West Coast Eagles were the number-one team for so long just with their standing on the ladder when he was playing there.

“So I think the spotlight and scrutiny that he had n Perth will be every bit of what it’ll be in Melbourne.”