Are players at risk of losing everything...if they don't meet the public image set by the media and AFL?

I don't think they are "seen" as celebrities I think AFL footballers are celebrities to a degree. You see people go and watch them play just like people go and watch a film. Sport is a form of entertainment so in a way they are entertainers. Carey and Cousins, for example, were the best of the best so talking celebrities they would be like the Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise of AFL footy. Everybody knows who they are. The media is a business they will do anything to sell their stories or articles..and the more high profile someone is the, more people are interested in them and the articles about them sell. So the media sucked every story they could out of Cousins and Corey, they would turn the tiniest of things into the biggest of stories. As a society we tend to think of what we read in the newspapers or see of the TV as the truth so one bad articles can turn the whole public against them no matter how good they are on field. Then again one great article can mean that player is King of The World. This puts enormous stress on the players to constantly maintain that image and think before drinking that drink or going to that party and along with the stress the perform on the field I guess it just becomes to much for them and they crack. They make those bad decisions that some will regret for the rest of their lives. And so quick they go (to quote Ben Cousins himself) "from the Penthouse to the sh*thouse in record time". But i guess that's what comes with being an AFL footballer and to think of it any high profile sportsman.