Cousins backs former team from jail

BEN Cousins has reached out to his former Richmond teammates from behind bars.

Cousins, serving a one-year sentence in Perth’s Acacia Prison, has sent good luck messages to the Tigers.

The former West Coast Brownlow medallist, who played 32 games for Richmond in 2009 and 2010, also wanted to pass on his congratulations to this year’s Brownlow winner, Dustin Martin.

Cousins has used his father Bryan to make phone calls and deliver specific messages throughout a finals series he’s been watching from jail.

“I only texted Brendon (Gale) this morning to ask him to pass on that Ben’s really been thinking of them all and to pass on his best wishes to Damien (Hardwick) and the rest of the team,” Cousins Sr said.

“I think it shows that he cares. Richmond provided some great support to him, as did West Coast. But in his time of need and crisis, Richmond were prepared to put their hand up.”

For all his issues, Cousins left a lasting impression on several Richmond players when it came to training standards at the highest level.

Richmond CEO Brendon Gale said Cousins had always stayed in touch and revealed that his oldest child, a mad Tigers fan, had been in the team rooms to meet his favourite player Martin after Round 22.