"AFL Commission Lays Charge Against Ben Cousins" was the subject of the news release from the AFL at 6.19pm last Friday . It came on the same day as Justice Peter Heerey delivered his findings in the Federal Court on Richard Pratt and his company, Visy, over a cartel operation.

Cousins has a serious substance abuse problem. We've now learnt that his problem with drugs caused a crisis on his recent trip to Los Angeles. It is painfully obvious that this young man desperately needs help. Last month he was apprehended by Western Australian police. As yet, the remaining charge against him has not been tested in court.

Pratt and his company, meanwhile, were found guilty of what Justice Heerey described as "by far the most serious cartel case to come before the court". Visy was fined $36 million. The judge lamented that "the Government hasn't yet got around to introducing criminalisation" of such behaviour, which would allow for jail sentences.

Cousins' club, West Coast, has indicated that it will terminate the player's contract. Pratt's club, Carlton, has said: "We'll just do whatever we need to do to keep him as president."

That may involve the extraordinary measure of transferring ownership of its poker machines to a separate organisation if Pratt is found unsuitable by the Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation to continue to hold a gaming licence.

Cousins continually has faced accusations from media commentators, and presumably from many within football administration, of arrogance and lack of genuine contrition for the error of his ways. Pratt's contrition, according to Justice Heerey, "probably has a substantial element of regret at being found out".

Cousins often wears T-shirts, sometimes takes them off, and sports a philosophical, if somewhat defiant tattoo prominently across his midriff.

Some hysterical commentators believe this alone should be enough to condemn him.

Pratt is a white-collar man. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel observed last week: "Cartels are theft — usually by well-dressed thieves."

Cousins is required to face an AFL Commission meeting on November 19, which will determine whether he "has been involved in conduct which is unbecoming or likely to … bring the game of football into disrepute". There is speculation that this could even be career-ending for the brilliant former West Coast captain and 2005 Brownlow medallist. His livelihood will be affected severely if the AFL finds him guilty.

The AFL, as yet, has made no plans to even consider whether Pratt also may have been involved in conduct that is unbecoming or likely to bring football into disrepute. As for his earning power, Visy isn't about to close its operation.

Whereas any crimes committed by Cousins were in his private life and with himself as the major victim, Pratt, in Justice Heerey's opinion, ripped off all Australians. He did this in his role as chairman of a business, precisely the same kind of role he holds within football.

If it is argued Cousins has brought the game into disrepute, it's hard to see how Pratt could possibly avoid such a charge. The difference between Cousins and Pratt, though, is that one is an individual contractor and the other a rich and powerful businessman.

West Coast has cast Cousins adrift. Carlton will do what it can to keep Pratt as president.

An International sports labour law lecturer, and consultant to various Australian sports bodies, Braham Dabscheck, has written of the Cousins case that West Coast "abdicated their common law obligation to an employee — an employee who was in rehabilitation seeking to overcome problems with drugs". "This demonising of Ben Cousins constitutes one of the blackest days in Australian sport."

The AFL intends to pursue Cousins further at its November 19 commission meeting. That the president of one of its 16 clubs has been fined $36 million by the Federal Court is not on the agenda.

The matter of what the AFL should demand of its personnel away from the game's workface remains arguable. However, if only one of Cousins and Pratt is to be pursued for his sins, it remains debatable which man should be in the dock.