{"id":704681,"date":"2026-05-30T17:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704681\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T17:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T17:09:14","slug":"bryan-cousins-mnd-west-australian-afl-legend-reduced-to-tears-as-he-reveals-his-health-diagnosis-in-perth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/704681\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryan Cousins MND: West Australian AFL legend reduced to tears as he reveals his health diagnosis in Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Australian Football legend Bryan Cousins has choked back tears in an emotional interview sharing that he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.<\/p>\n

In a one-on-one Q&A at Swan Districts Football Club hosted by club patron and distinguished cancer researcher Professor Bruce Robinson, Mr Cousins was reduced to tears and at times struggled to find his words as he revealed the news to the room full of supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was running along the beach and starting to struggle \u2014 a bloke stopped me and asked me if I was OK,\u201d Mr Cousins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to a neurologist and I started looking at what I might have and I got the one thing I didn\u2019t want which was MND.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Cousins is no stranger to a battle \u2014 playing 238 games for Perth in the WAFL and 67 for Geelong in the VFL \u2014 his incredible success on the field saw him win the Sandover Medal in 1983.<\/p>\n

\"BenCamera IconBen Cousins poses with his father Bryan Cousins after winning the 2005 Brownlow Medal at Burswood Resort Grand Ballroom September 19, 2005 in Perth. Credit: Paul Kane\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

His legacy helped inspire his son, Ben Cousins, to make his bid for the AFL \u2014 which would see him go on to become a West Coast Eagle and one of the greatest players WA has seen.<\/p>\n

It was his son and his family at the front of his mind when Mr Cousins received his MND diagnosis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got teary, mainly because I thought \u2014 how am I going to tell the kids?,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI texted them on a Sat(urday) and asked them to come round home on Sunday and we had a big hug and a cuddle and we discussed MND.<\/p>\n

\"LeftCamera IconLeft to right: Bryan Cousins in action in 1980 and a young Ben Cousins with Bryan Cousins and Mick Rea. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my granddaughters said \u2018pop when you get in the wheelchair can I go for a ride?,\u201d he said laughing while trying to hold back tears. \u201c<\/p>\n

It was the recent passing of former Essendon player and Demons coach Neale Daniher, who also battled MND and dedicated his later years to raising awareness, that had given Mr Cousins the strength to share his story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way he approached it and his courage and his attitude, one word kept coming to my mind. He\u2019s a fighter and continued to fight till the day he died,\u201d Mr Cousins said.<\/p>\n

\"DrCamera IconDr Bruce Robinson on stage with Bryan Cousins at Swan Districts Football Club as Bryan announces he has MND. Credit: Stuart Quinn\/The Sunday Times<\/p>\n

The 72-year-old said he has been reflecting on comment made by Mr Daniher over the years about the progressions of the disease, which was now starting to ring true as he faces his own battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting along, I\u2019m still independent but I\u2019m looking at everything that Neale said and every six months is worse than the previous and you notice the little things in life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, because of all the amazing things that people are doing I do believe we will find a cure.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeale was the one person you thought who was going to beat it, and with the amount of money he\u2019s raised I think it\u2019s something like $140m \u2014 I want to follow his lead, he was never a burden to everyone \u2026 I saw him as the commended and chief of the MND movement and if we ever find a cure it\u2019s because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Australian Football legend Bryan Cousins has choked back tears in an emotional interview sharing that he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[638,63,43,44,588,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-704681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-afl","tag-australia","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}