AFL champion Ben Cousins in need of knee surgery and out of Legends Game

AFL icon Ben Cousins has revealed at the eleventh hour that he will not take part in Thursday night’s highly anticipated EJ Whitten Legends Game.

Cousins — who recently had a hernia operation after noticing a lump “where it shouldn’t be” — says he now needs knee surgery after stepping up training for the special event (which will be live and free on will be live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport).

Along with champions such as Cyril Rioli, Gary Ablet Jnr, Luke Hodge and Nick Riewoldt, the Brownlow medallist and premiership hero had been among the big names to commit to the game.

But sadly, he has made the eleventh hour call to pull out.

“I stepped up my training in preparation, and unfortunately, I’ve done myself a mischief,” he said on his radio show Mix94.5’s Pete & Kymba with Ben Cousins.

“Disappointed, but, yeah, I’ve hurt my knee.”

Cousins said revealed that he had never had an operation on his knee (despite his 270 AFL games) but now he was “going to need some surgery at some point, unfortunately”.

“I hadn’t been doing much running at all … because of the hernia, so then, just in a short space of time, had to ramp it up pretty quickly if I was going to be out running and going to kick,” he said.

“So yeah, I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d done, but it was quite sore the last week.

“I’ve since had scans and realised I’m getting old.”

Despite the unfortunate omission of Cousins, some of the biggest names in the history of the game (Brendan Fevola, Dane Swan, Jordan Roughead, Jeff Farmer, Steve Johnson, Andrew McLeod, Andrew Embley, Erin Phillips and Chad Cornes to name a handful) have committed to the cause.

Hawthorn icon and Seven’s House of Wellness co-host Shane Crawford is set to coach the All Stars, while AFL great and former 7NEWS Melbourne sports presenter, Tim Watson, will coach the Big V.

The iconic event has returned to the AFL calendar after a six-year hiatus.

And funds raised through match will help support patient care and vital research collaborations at the Australian Prostate Centre.

SEN chief executive officer, Craig Hutchison, said his organisation was proud to play a part in supporting such an important cause and iconic match.

It all kicks off from 7pm AEST at Marvel Stadium and will be live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport.

Team Victoria

Tim Watson (coach), Luke Hodge (C), Gary Ablett Jnr, Brendan Fevola, Dane Swan, Tommy Sheridan, Steve Johnson, Luke Shuey, Campbell Brown, Brent Harvey, Bob Murphy, Dave Hughes, Stephen Milne, Chris Johnson, Paul Dimmatina, Brett Deledio, Dylan Buckley, Travis Cloke, Luke Ball, Heath Scotland, Easton Wood, Luke Dahlhaus, Jordan Roughead, Josh Gibson, Brad Sewell, James Frawley, Michael Hurley

Team All Stars

Shane Crawford (coach), Nick Riewoldt (C), Cyril Rioli, Daniel Gorringe, Adam Cooney, Isaac Smith, Andrew McLeod, Andrew Embley, Kate McCarthy, Ben Cousins (out), Ollie Geale, Erin Phillips, Nick Cody, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Nick Davis, Zach Tuohy, Tom Rockliff, Nick Daffy, Jeff Farmer, Travis Varcoe, Matt Shirvington, Prime Train, Joel Patfull, Danny Southern, Paul Puopolo, Mitch Robinson, Chad Cornes, Steve Hooker

The Legends Game for prostate cancer is live and free on Thursday August 28, from 7pm AEST on Seven and 7plus Sport.