Cousins was courted by several clubs but in the end the Tigers were the only club willing to take him.
Coach Terry Wallace said the players had made their position on Cousins very clear. “The playing group was very strong, but I’ll let Chris speak on that,” Wallace said.
“Every playing group would want to have the best players they could possibly get, we know and understand that, and that was only one of the facts we took into account, but certainly the playing group was very, very strong in support of Ben coming to our club.”
Newman, who only recently took over the captaincy from Kane Johnson, said the players were solidly behind the move.
"I guess we thought that we’ve got the right mix now to be able to deal with it,” Newman said.
“With Ben coming down, we thought that he could set the standards not only at training, but also with his work ethic on the ground.
“He’s coming in to our side, and we feel he can make some improvement for us going in to the future.
“The players felt really strongly that he’s able to come and contribute straight away; he’s a ready-made player.
“We feel as though we’ve got a really good opportunity over the next few years with a good core of younger guys and older guys to really make an impact on the competition.”
Newman said the players told the coaches and the board as recently as Monday afternoon that Cousins would be a great addition.
“We just thought it would be a huge opportunity, and we thought that given the circumstances the timing was right, and if he’s available, why not get him?” Newman said.
“We thought he could be a really good contributor on-field, not only with the older guys there, but the younger guys coming through can learn a great deal.
“The way he conducts himself on the training field and on gameday is something that I think we’ll really benefit from.”
