[1] Cousins started his career at Central District and won their best and fairest award in 1986.
[2] At the end of the year, in the 1986 National Draft, Cousins was selected at pick six by VFL club Footscray and made the move to Victoria.
[4][5] In 1988, with Andrew Purser no longer at the club having returned to Western Australia, Cousins was Footscray's first ruckman and he had the best season of his career, with eight Brownlow Medal votes.
[4] He took 109 marks that year, second only at Footscray to Peter Foster.
His family owned a farm in the Spalding District.