Several teams showed an interest in drafting Cousins for 2009, including Collingwood Football Club, St Kilda Football Club and Brisbane Lions. Collingwood sent a private investigator to Perth to follow Cousins for several days. After meeting with Victorian Chief Commissioner of Police Christine Nixon in October 2008, Collingwood announced that they would not draft Cousins. In November, after reviewing Cousins and consulting stakeholders for five months, St Kilda said they would not draft him. The day before the national draft, Brisbane issued a media release that said they would not be drafting Cousins. On 29 November 2008, Cousins was not selected in the AFL National Draft.