THE Brisbane Lions remain in the running for Ben Cousins, despite concern from a sponsor, with coach Michael Voss having flown to Perth to meet Cousins yesterday.

Voss and his lieutenant Graeme Allan held a meeting with Cousins yesterday, and while sponsor Devine Home Loans has objected to the club recruiting the 2005 Brownlow medallist, the Lions are still interested in Cousins.

Speculation that the Lions had dropped out of the race meant they were able to quietly consider the Cousins issue in recent days and continue their "due diligence" without the media spotlight on them.

St Kilda, the other club interested in Cousins, will determine whether it wishes to draft him in Saturday's national draft at a late-afternoon board meeting.

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon and football operations manager Matthew Drain will make a presentation to the board on Cousins, outlining the pros and cons of drafting him.

The St Kilda board is the ultimate arbiter of whether it tries to draft him, with a clear majority of directors needed to be in favour and a general consensus reached between the board, the administration and the football department. St Kilda chief executive Archie Fraser arrives back in Melbourne today from overseas to attend the meeting.

If the Saints decide they want him, Cousins is expected to nominate for Saturday's national draft, in which St Kilda is a better chance to pick him up in the event that the Lions, too, are keen to draft him.

Cousins has to nominate for the national draft by tomorrow afternoon, having been granted a nomination form extension by the AFL.

The Saints, like the Lions, will weigh up all the issues arising from Cousins' recent drug addiction, and also the question of where he fits in their list-management strategy.

Sponsors have pulled surprising weight in the deliberations of clubs — Mazda having objected to any pursuit of Cousins by North Melbourne — and also will be a consideration for St Kilda, which has had Cousins on the radar for some time.

While Brisbane and the Saints are pondering the same questions about Cousins, the Lions have an additional question — what impact the player would have upon a club in a developing market, where the AFL is engaged in a fierce struggle with the rugby codes.

The St Kilda board has to discuss how it would manage the extraordinarily rigorous drug-testing regime that Cousins will be subjected to in 2009 if he plays. The AFL has ruled that, if he is to be play again next year, Cousins will be subjected to up to three urine tests a week and four hair tests over the course of the season. He is likely to be subjected to target testing on match days, too, by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, meaning he could be tested as many as four times a week.

A leading drug educator has warned that rejection by AFL clubs could trigger a relapse for Cousins.

Drug and Alcohol Research Training Australia director Paul Dillon said the feeling of being unwanted in a chosen field coupled with being financially sound but with no sense of daily routine could prove disastrous for a recovering addict.

Dillon likened Cousins' predicament to a relationship breakdown, which is known to have dire consequences for people who have stopped taking drugs.

"It's going to be a tough time if he does find rejection, I'm sure," Dillon said. With WEST AUSTRALIAN