Fallen former AFL star Ben Cousins is in a Perth hospital under police guard after being injured in a car crash hours after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The troubled, drug-addicted 38-year-old failed to appear in the suburban Armadale Magistrates Court on Tuesday on methamphetamine charges and breaching a violence restraining order, prompting magistrate Geoff Lawrence to order his arrest.
He is also due to appear in the Fremantle court this Friday on separate drug charges.
The VRO related to an incident in October involving his former partner Maylea Tinecheff, with whom he has two children aged three and five.
Despite the injuries being minor, Cousins remained in hospital late on Wednesday afternoon, long after he crashed his car into a truck at High Wycomb in Perth's east at about 1.20am.
It was the second day in a row a large media pack with TV cameras waited to film Cousins, who retired from football more than six years ago.
On Tuesday, the media waited outside the Armadale court for more than eight hours and on Wednesday, for more than 12 hours outside Royal Perth Hospital.
Cousins contacted his lawyer, Michael Tudori, on Tuesday morning to say he was unwell and would not attend court but did not provide a medical certificate so the warrant for his arrested was issued.
Last month, he was granted bail on the charges, but magistrate Sandra De Maio warned he would be locked up if he breached the conditions.
She relaxed the VRO conditions, saying Cousins could communicate with Ms Tinecheff via text message but only about parenting issues.
The Brownlow medallist and former Eagles captain's drug problems became prominent when he was stripped of the captaincy after fleeing a booze bus in Perth, swimming across the Swan River to evade police in 2006.
He was suspended by the club in early 2007 and spent time in a US rehab facility, but later that year was infamously arrested for drug possession while topless and revealing a "such is life" tattoo. He was subsequently suspended from the AFL for a year.
He made a comeback with Richmond before retiring in 2010.
Since then, his troubles have continued in the public eye, most recently in June when he was reportedly treated in hospital after standing in the middle of Canning Highway in Como directing traffic.
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