Fallen footy star Ben Cousins is facing 15 charges including aggravated stalking and breaching a restraining order after he was arrested in Perth. 

The former West Coast Eagles captain was taken into custody on Wednesday after allegedly being found with methamphetamine in the suburb of East Victoria Park. 

Police had been searching for a vehicle that was seen driving erratically earlier in the day before finding it in Kensington around noon.

The 41-year-old was allegedly found asleep next to the car with 2.5 grams of ice.

WA Police refused to comment on the type of car Cousins was driving after it was located. 

He has also been charged with aggravated stalking and 13 charges relating to the breaching of a restraining order between April 2 and April 15.

Those charges do not relate to Wednesday’s incident and the victim is known to Cousins, police said. 

Cousins was placed in a holding cell at the Perth watch house and will face Armadale Magistrates Court on Thursday.

A white prison van believed to be transporting the former AFL player was photographed leaving the court in Perth on Thursday afternoon. 

The former premiership player and Brownlow medallist has been in and out of prison in recent years as he struggled with his meth addiction, and served almost one year behind bars for stalking his ex-partner Maylea Tinecheff.

He had been scheduled to face a trial last September over more alleged family violence offences, but after charges of stalking and threatening to harm Ms Tinecheff were dropped, he pleaded guilty to 12 lesser offences.

He was sentenced to eight months in prison but it was backdated and with time already served, he was able to walk free in August.

His lawyer Michael Tudori told AAP at the time his client was doing well and continuing to self-fund his rehabilitation with the Whitehaven Clinic, saying it was ‘a long road to recovery’.

The arrest comes just three weeks after Cousins appeared in a tell-all interview with Channel Seven where he opened up about his drug addiction.

Sporting long hair in a ponytail and a scruffy beard, Cousins admitted he’d ‘stuffed things up royally’ and that it was time to put things right.

‘I hope people can see I’m having a crack at turning it around,’ he said. 

But Cousins gave an unconvincing answer when asked if he was still using drugs.

‘I’m just thinking how… I’m just not sure about how to answer that,’ he said.

‘My issues have been more greater and complex than my drug use.

‘In a perfect world, I would’ve have liked come out the other side a long time ago. That hasn’t been the case.’

Cousins was tight-lipped when asked when was the last time he took drugs.

‘It’s just one of those things, I’d rather not go there,’ he said.

‘I don’t think it helps.’

‘Last week, last month?,’ Basil Zempilas pressed. 

Cousins replied: ‘Well…you know, not today is enough for me and it should be enough for other people.   

Cousins had this message to today’s youth about taking drugs.

‘I would encourage them to think long and hard before they decide to go down that path,’ Cousins said. 

‘Just be aware of the ramifications and take it seriously.’

Confronting footage from the interview also showed a furious Cousins in the backseat of a car, ranting about the custody of his kids. 

‘I don’t think a mother plays any more of an important role than the bloke does,’ Cousins says in the rant filmed in February.

‘It needs to be stopped. Every time I see the coppers I say to them ”you guys have let me down”.

‘The community has let me down. My family, her family, have let me down. This has gone on for too long.  

‘If I get to a point where and I’m going to pick a cause single-mindedly… or with that cause towards you – I want there to be carnage.

‘Blood will spill. So, it’s up to you guys so if you want to change this.’

Cousins described the mother of his children, Maylea Tinecheff, as the most defiant person he’d ever known – and said he wanted underworld figure Mick Gatto to  mediate access to his two children. 

He said he was willing to give his Brownlow Medal to Gatto in return.  

‘I’ve never met anyone as defiant. You know? Mick Gatto couldn’t tell her what to do,’ Cousins said.

‘Mick … I’m just telling you – and I honestly was going to get him to come over, I was going to give him my Brownlow – to mediate.

‘That’s how big a thing it was, you know?’

In a rare light-hearted moment during the documentary, Cousins was reminded about a nude photo of him after a spray tan that surfaced on social media last year.

‘Mate, there’s a fantastic photo of Ben at a spray tan place,’ a man can heard saying off-camera.

‘Oh please,’ Cousins laughed.

‘You posted it,’ Zempilas told him. 

Cousins replied: ‘I didn’t actually, that was the problem. I can’t believe it happened the way it did.

‘I wasn’t doing someone a favour. I was trying to get a root, that’s what I was trying to do basically. That wasn’t supposed to go anywhere.’  

The pair laughed when Zempilas said it wasn’t the worst thing Cousins had ever done.

The infamous photo never got the desired result.

‘No ships, only hardships,’ Cousins said.  

He was grilled about his tumultuous relationship with the mother of his children and former partner, Maylea Tinecheff. 

In January 2018, Cousins was released from prison after serving 10 months of the one-year sentence for breaching a restraining order taken out by Ms Tinecheff.

He was back in jail months later following charges making threats and breaking a violence restraining order.

He spent eight months in jail until his release on bail last April. 

Two charges of stalking and threatening to harm Ms Tinecheff were later dropped.

Cousins later pleaded guilty to the remaining 12 offences of breaching a violence restraining order and was sentenced to eight months in prison, which he had already served.

‘As you know, I wasn’t convicted of some of those things’, Cousins told Zempilas.

‘But I agree with you yeah, some of it is inexcusable.’

When asked if he was embarrassed about where he ended up, Cousins replied: ‘I’m not proud.’