But the Murray Bushrangers captain was granted his shot at an AFL career when Essendon took him in the rookie draft with pick 50.

Klemke was one of five Bushrangers taken yesterday.

Benalla's Tom Rockliff found a new home at Brisbane in the pre-season draft, while Jamason Daniels (Western Bulldogs), Riley Milne (Hawthorn), Andrew Browne (Richmond) and Klemke (Essendon) were placed on AFL rookie lists.

The Tigers had said on Monday they were highly unlikely to draft confessed drug addict Cousins, after failing in a bid to give themselves two selections in the pre-season draft.

They had previously said they were committed to taking a young player with their first pick in the pre-season draft and Klemke, who had been training with the club, was in their calculations.

But with heavy pressure from supporters over the past 24 hours, and an endorsement of Cousins from Tigers’ favourite son and new club ambassador Kevin Sheedy, the club decided to take a punt on Cousins.

The 30-year-old has not played since late 2007.

But the 2005 Brownlow Medallist has been one of the greatest players in the modern era, and was instrumental in helping West Coast to the premiership in 2006.

The first five clubs to have selections before Richmond in the pre-season draft all passed on Cousins.

In other notable selections, Port Adelaide drafted their former premiership midfielder Josh Carr, who was delisted by Fremantle at the end of last season, and Essendon took ex-Adelaide player Hayden Skipworth.

But Melbourne and Brisbane took little-known youngsters - the Demons taking Liam Jurrah and the Lions selecting Murray Bushrangers teen Tom Rockliff.

That left ex-Swan Nick Davis and former Melbourne defender Nathan Carroll without AFL clubs for 2009.

The decision represents a remarkable backflip in the space of a month for the Tigers, who had emphatically ruled out drafting Cousins once he became available when the AFL gave him the green light to play in November.

Both Collingwood and St Kilda expressed serious interest in Cousins, but after months of courting him, decided not to proceed.

Brisbane also flirted with the idea of taking Cousins ahead of the national draft a fortnight ago, but also decided to shun him.

Richmond’s interest was only made public last week, when Sheedy was believed to have been instrumental in convincing the Tigers and coach Terry Wallace to give him a second chance.

The Tigers’ decision to salvage Cousins’ career provides a mouth-watering round one clash next season between two former West Coast superstars, with Chris Judd set to line up for Carlton.

The match will be played at the MCG on March 26.

He was sacked by then-club West Coast at the end of that year, confessed to substance abuse, and was hit with a 12-month ban by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute.