HE'S BACK.

Five hundred and thirty eight days after he limped off AAMI Stadium with a ripped hamstring, Ben Cousins will resume his AFL career when he takes the field for the first time as a Richmond player tonight at Telstra Dome.

Love him or loathe him, there's no denying the 30-year-old has travelled a long and tortuous road to return from football's wilderness.

Since that fateful night in Adelaide, Cousins has been involved in scrapes with the law, had his playing contract terminated, been banned by the AFL and undergone rehabilitation for a drug addiction that ultimately saw him given the green light to try to resurrect his tattered career at Punt Road.

As he sat forlornly on the bench watching his side slip to a three-point qualifying final defeat to the Power, Cousins couldn't have had the slightest inkling of what life had in store for him, or indeed that he was wearing a West Coast guernsey for the last time.

But the club where he started his career, played 238 games, won a Brownlow Medal and tasted premiership glory had little choice but to send him on his way after yet another embarrassing and highly-publicised brush with WA law enforcement in October 2007.

More bad news came in the form of a ban handed down by the League for bringing the game into disrepute. The finding precluded him from organised football at any level for the entirety of the 2008 season.

But Cousins was never far from the spotlight. Despite his exile, stories of his activities and footage of him training either on his own or, later, with former WAFL club East Fremantle were devoured by the football viewing public.

After convincing AFL medicos that he had kicked his drug habit, Cousins was given a shot at redemption when the AFL Commission approved his application to be eligible to be drafted in November 2008.

But when the path finally appeared clear for a return, initial suitors Collingwood and St Kilda shied away from his flawed brilliance fearing a supporter and sponsor backlash.

A late bid by the Tigers to have injured backman Graham Polak rookie-listed to clear the way for Cousins in the NAB AFL Pre-Season Draft was denied leaving club officials to rule him out on the eve of it.

Staring down the barrel of football oblivion, Cousins was finally thrown a lifeline when he officially joined Richmond on December 16 following a huge show of support from the Tiger Army.

Since arriving at Punt Road media interest in Cousins has been at fever pitch. But more importantly for the club has gone out on a limb for him, Cousins reportedly hasn't put a foot wrong and has trained well to regain the fitness required for Terry Wallace to send him onto the field once again.

Whether you wish him well or otherwise, Thursday February 26 marks the next chapter in the fascinating football story of Ben Cousins.

Dream Team watch – Ben Cousins is rated a $364,000 midfielder in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.