Ben Cousins knew he shouldn't have debuted for Richmond in last year's ill-fated round-one loss to Carlton but felt obligated to because of the massive hype surrounding the clash, a former Tigers' assistant coach has revealed.

As the Blues and Tigers prepare to again open the AFL season on Thursday night, with Cousins again under a fitness cloud, David King, one of senior coach Terry Wallace's right-hand men last year, has told backpagelead.com.au that Cousins opted not to tell the Tigers of his concerns about his questionable hamstring heading into the heavily-promoted clash at the MCG.

Cousins would go on and tear the tendon that night in the Tigers' 83-point defeat, a result that effectively terminated Wallace's hopes of a new contract and shattered pre-season club expectations of a tilt at the finals.

Cousins sat out the next four weeks, no doubt ruing his decision to play.

The Tigers' only learnt of Cousins' opening-round fears months later when, heading into the round-16 (ultimately drawn) clash against North Melbourne, he told team officials he was experiencing the same tightness.

"The hype that comes with a round one clash is enormous. Richmond last year was massive with the Ben Cousins' factor, and so much marketing was probably done off the back of that," King told backpagelead.com.au.

"In hindsight, he probably wasn't at his peak physically. He probably knew he had some kind of issues with his legs coming in but he virtually got to a point where he decided himself that he had to play.

"He just didn't feel right. He kept that to himself. He had an issue again later in the year (Round 16) where he said was exactly as he felt just prior to Round One and we actually didn't play him that week.

"It was just such a massive build-up. It had been built up for a number of months - to not play him would have been nonsense, really."

A source close to the Tigers also confirmed this version of events, adding Cousins had been loath to pull out of Round One without a more serious ailment.

The Tigers' mojo was shredded that night and, by Round 12, with nine defeats on the board, Wallace's five-year tenure was also over.
"It wasn't the fact we lost, it was the way we lost in round one which was probably demoralising," King said. "It was a tough start to the year. You can lose but you can't lose by that margin.

"We knew coming into the year it was an important year for the club and for Terry. It was similar to a player coming out of contract. It's amazing how the pressure builds and you want to have a big year."

Expectations at Punt Rd aren't as great this season under new coach Damien Hardwick. For one, Kevin Sheedy, who returned to Richmond last year in some kind of marketing role, has gone to Western Sydney, taking with him his ridiculous assertion last year the Tigers were capable of pinching a premiership.

Matthew Richardson, one of a handful of veterans to retire or be pushed out late last year, says the club has rid itself of "dead wood" and can now begin to rebuild.

"I feel like it's time to embrace the new history at our club, what better time than to start now," Richardson told the Tigers' faithful at the season launch. "We have 16 players that haven't made a debut for our club. We have cleared out the deadwood, we are all gone.
"It's a fresh start."

That it is, although, with Cousins, it's almost been almost a case of "Groundhog Day" with the controversial midfielder still in the headlines for a variety of reasons.

King will again be the MCG on Thursday - but this time in his role as special comments man on 3AW Radio.
He doesn't expect another blow-out result but says this time there will be greater pressure on the Blues adjusting to on-field life without kingpin forward Brendan Fevola.

"We are going to be forgiving of Damien for a while, I'd assume as an industry," he said.

"Maybe Brett Ratten has got a lot of different issues. He has got some personnel playing in different spots. Maybe there is a bit more pressure on Carlton to deliver more than Richmond.