West Coast great Glen Jakovich hopes Ben Cousins' stint in jail will finally allow the fallen star to get clean from drugs.
Cousins was sentenced to 12 months in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to 11 offences, including aggravated stalking, breaching a violence restraining order, and drug possession.
The 38-year-old will be eligible for parole after six months.
Jakovich played alongside Cousins for nine seasons at the Eagles, and was saddened to see the depths his former teammate has plummeted.
But Jakovich hopes time in jail will end up being the turning point that Cousins so desperately needs.
"Hopefully this is the rock bottom of the plight he's been on since he's retired from footy," Jakovich told AAP.
"Hopefully the next six months he doesn't touch drugs, and he gets the right counselling and therapy he needs.
"He needs to start getting some structure and some programs, and just get healthy - for his own safety and wellbeing.
"Some professional people I've come across have said the best thing that can happen is if he goes to jail - so that he's not on the streets, he's not driving around at 2am in the morning in harm's way."
Jakovich, who played 276 games for the Eagles and now works as a sports commentator for Perth radio station 6PR, said the scourge of drugs was scary given he now has three children of his own.
He hopes the plight of Cousins will serve as a warning to others about the dangers of drugs.
"We've seen a guy reach the pinnacle of his sport, and win the adulation of a country, and had all the fortunes that came with it," Jakovich said.
"Unfortunately, now we see him in jail. That's just a 360-degree transformation, which is very sad. We just hope he gets well."
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