Australian Football

Armadale boy Bryan Cousins made his league debut with Perth in 1970, the same season that saw him win the club's fairest and best trophy at reserves level, and went on to become one of the club's most noteworthy and respected performers. Dynamic, pacy and a penetrative kick, he won the Demons' fairest and best award in 1972, and played in the centre in the losing Grand Final of 1974 against East Fremantle. 

In 1975 he moved to VFL club Geelong where he spent five seasons and played 67 games, many of the best of them in his final year. He continued to play good football when he returned to Perth in 1980 although he had had the bad fortune to miss the club's halcyon spell of the late 1970s. He won a second club fairest and best award in 1982, the same season that saw him assume the senior team captaincy, a role he retained for three years.

In 1983 he lost the Sandover Medal to East Perth's John Ironmonger on a countback; 14 years later he joined all other such runners-up in being awarded a retrospective Medal by the Westar Rules authorities. Cousins continued playing with the Demons until 1987, by which time he had amassed 240 senior games for the club. After playing as a centreman or on-baller for the majority of his career, he developed into a solid, rebounding back pocket player in his later years. Somewhat surprisingly, Bryan Cousins made just one interstate appearance for Western Australia, against South Australia at Subiaco in 1985.

Author - John Devaney