AFL chief Gillon McLachlan says the league has offered support to Ben Cousins' "exasperated" family, as the fallen footballer begins a year-long stint in a Perth jail.
The 2005 Brownlow medallist, who continues to battle drug addiction, has been jailed for repeated breaches of a violence restraining order against his former partner Maylea Tinecheff.
![The AFL has offered support to Ben Cousins' family, as the former footballer begins his year in jail.](/web/20170401075704im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/8/5/0/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvbj90.png/1491023940916.jpg)
McLachlan said on Saturday he had reached out to those close to the former West Coast Eagles and Richmond star.
"The issue is, I don't know what to do. I have, without betraying confidence, I spoke to a lot of people about this and offered the AFL's support, including to Ben's family," he said.
"They are exasperated and don't know what to do. I think that's the challenge at the moment. What to do for Ben.
"Clearly, his circumstances have changed in the past week or whatever it's been, and potentially there is upside in that. I don't know."
Cousins has been visited in jail by former premiership teammate Andrew Embley, while Daniel Kerr, another former teammate, having himself spent five days in jail last year for breaching a VRO, has said he will also visit Cousins.
Embley told Channel Seven in Perth he hoped time away would help Cousins deal with his drug problems.
"He looked good, beard pretty big and looked like he put weight on ... everyone who knows Ben Cousins knows that he's a cracking individual and has so much to offer," he said. "Let's hope this is an experience that turns his life around."
In a wide-ranging interview on 3AW, McLachlan said discussions with the AFL Players Association were progressing over a new collective bargaining agreement. The negotiations are not solely about the players' bid for a set percentage model, and McLachlan declared there were 10 issues "outside of the key commercial pieces".
"I reckon 95 per cent of the stuff will get worked through pretty easily," he said. "There is going to be some stuff at the end around the bigger pieces, which is the actual money and the formula.
"I am confident we will get there because the parties are talking and progress is being made. Whether that means it's two weeks or two months, I don't know. You can't predict negotiations but there is an appetite from both parties to get it done and appetite from both parties to make concessions and negotiate it. When there is that environment, you get it done."
Players could secure a 20 per cent rise in payments for next season, perhaps sparking a more intense recruiting spree by clubs in October.
McLachlan reiterated there would not be immediate expansion in the AFLW, insisting the league wanted to use 2018 as consolidation in the eight-team competition. Geelong, St Kilda and North Melbourne had been pressing to join.
He claimed there would be a "huge shift in the quality of football next year".
"It's not easy and Geelong and St Kilda particularly are very vocal about it but I know the Kangaroos are just as urgent and other clubs are," McLachlan said.
"You are trying to manage being bold and aggressive and also getting the roots down. We have gone out widely and planted a crop. Our view is, without a final decision, though, is we need to consolidate in the second year. The standard will improve dramatically."
The AFL might have rejected the opportunity of a twilight grand final this year but McLachlan said it was on the horizon.
"There's a view from a lot people around the place that you could have a better event of the best day in sport if you did it, say twilight ... move it back a couple of hours and you could have the game at night and the event, for the 100,000 and then into the millions at home, could be better," he said.
"But, if you're going to do that, when people generally prefer to not have change, then you've got to execute every part of it right."
Having released the long-awaited internal report into the league's handling of the Essendon supplements scandal, McLachlan said the AFL was open to a suggestion by outgoing Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority chief Ben McDevitt for an independent disciplinary panel for all sports to handle anti-doping and match-fixing breaches.
However, he said the major problem for ASADA was that it was under-funded.
"If we get an independent tribunal and that is the best model, we'll get to it but that's all part of the review. That's the conversation we'll have with ASADA and WADA."