Cousins made a rude gesture with his finger to the cameras set up in Subiaco Oval’s changerooms prior to the match.
The gesture was later broadcast to a national audience on Channel Ten, which was covering the game.
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou was distinctly unimpressed with Cousins’ actions.
“I thought it was pretty ordinary to be quite honest,” he said on the ABC’s Offsiders program on Sunday morning.
“It was going across the nation. Everyone knows the cameras are there – I’m not quite sure what went through his mind.”
Demetriou agreed that the gesture could be seen as contemptuous to those who had supported Cousins in his comeback to football and rehabilitation from drug addiction.
But the AFL CEO said the matter was not one for the match review panel as it had occurred off-field.
“He’ll get a please explain tomorrow, I’m sure”, Demetriou said. “If I was him, I’d start to think about apologising pretty soon.
“It was totally unnecessary, unwarranted. It didn’t make any sense ... I don’t think we want any players doing that sort of thing, let alone Ben Cousins.”
Demetriou also confirmed that the AFL’s racial and religious vilification policy was being extended to disabilities and sexual orientation.
“We’re living in an age now where those things are unacceptable”, he said.
“We’re a mature society ... and I hope nobody in society is criticised or ridiculed based on their sexual orientation, their ethnicity, their background. We live in a very multicultural, diverse community which we should all be very grateful for.
“Everybody is entitled to respect and there’s no place for that sort of attitude in our game or our society.”
