THE numbers of people willing to cut Ben Cousins some slack had dwindled steadily ever since his triumphant comeback for West Coast late in the season against Sydney at Subiaco. And by the time he was pulled over by police in Perth on October 16, allegedly driving erratically, even their patience and tolerance had been exhausted.

The reaction was savage and swift. The latest rounds of Cousins jokes and the now ritual ridiculing of the Eagles' star for his bared chest and that prominent "such is life" tattoo began doing the rounds before he'd even been allowed out of the car in which he was held and questioned in a city street.

The next day, West Coast sacked their former captain and Brownlow medallist. A steady queue of AFL clubs made it clear they'd have nothing to do with the fallen hero whatever his on-field attributes. The AFL appointed an investigator to determine whether the Eagles had seriously attempted to tackle their perceived tolerance of drug use. And it charged him with bringing the game into disrepute.

Cousins had let a lot of people down. Their anger was palpable, as was a desire to shelve the compassion and pull out the big stick — which will doubtless be wielded on Monday when Cousins faces his AFL inquisitors.

Few want to see him let off with anything less than a year-long suspension. There's been no shortage of calls for a lifetime ban. Even that prospect, plus perhaps a public flogging wouldn't appease some. But the wrath has also exposed a lot of the supposed concern for both a clearly troubled young man and his family for the insincere lip service it always was. It hasn't been pretty to watch. And who knows what the ultimate consequences could be?

The WA police would have to feel embarrassed after the only remaining legal charge against their target was yesterday dropped.

The state's new drug-driver laws had come into effect only four days before Cousins was the first driver to be picked up under the new legislation. Now it's apparent they weren't administered correctly.

Yes, a technicality, but perhaps, too, an indication of the eagerness to land a big scalp.

West Coast was yesterday eager to point out that its decision to sack Cousins was never dependent upon the results of those police charges, but came about because of "repeated and serious breaches of his agreement with the club".

But if the arrest wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back, why hadn't the Eagles already acted?

And had the gung-ho WA police not come out so heavily that October afternoon, the AFL Commission would have had no pretext for its decision to formally charge Cousins with damaging the league's brand.

Yes, they've been given one since after the sad news of Cousins' five-day "bender" in the US while supposedly seeking more rehabilitation, but if a recovering drug addict's recovery is always a tenuous proposition how much more difficult is it — and how more likely a relapse — when they've been put through another round of public humiliation? Humiliation that has now been proven to have been based on legally spurious grounds.

Of course that's the humane, touchy-feely view. Unfashionable about a man who has become a public pariah. Not nearly as satisfying as getting the boots into a now- soft target. It is also easier to do when you're not only kicking a tall poppy, but somebody else's son, brother or friend.