NORTH Melbourne re-emerged as a contender to draft Ben Cousins, only to be thwarted three days ago by the club's major sponsor, Mazda.

The Age understands that Kangaroos chief executive Eugene Arocca contacted the club's major backer this week in the knowledge that the AFL would give Cousins the green light to play again, only to be told that Mazda had serious issues with the 2005 Brownlow medallist.

As a result, and coupled with the fact that Brisbane has become cold on the idea of drafting the former champion midfielder, who confessed that he had been a drug addict for 10 years, St Kilda looks almost certain to be the only club offering Cousins a home in the AFL.

The St Kilda board will meet on Tuesday and will make a decision whether or not to put Cousins on its list. The Saints are the only AFL club to have seriously investigated the prospect of drafting Cousins and have spoken with him several times about his commitment to the game and his health issues.

Cousins was in Melbourne yesterday to attend the funeral of a close friend and has indicated he will nominate for the national draft, despite the "onerous" conditions placed upon him by the AFL Commission.

The commission has set in place a severe drug-testing regime that includes up to three urine tests a week and four hair-follicle tests a year.

Cousins is also expected to be target-tested for performance-enhancing drugs by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, the national agency enlisted by the AFL to test players for drugs.

North Melbourne signed a new deal with Mazda, extending its relationship with the motor vehicle company in a deal estimated at $1.8 million a year. However, as part of the deal, Mazda had stipulated a specific drug and alcohol abuse clause, which is understood to have not yet been finalised.

Despite the Kangaroos' denials, which came from Arocca six days ago, the club's football department boss, Donald McDonald, is believed to have spoken several times with Cousins' manager Ricky Nixon about the possibility of recruiting Cousins — a prospect also entertained by coach Dean Laidley — and one which was only decisively abandoned yesterday.