St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt has questioned whether Ben Cousins can regain peak form after a year out of the game.

Cousins, who will know whether he can play AFL football again on Tuesday, has been strongly linked to a move to the Saints.

After being de-registered by the league for bringing the sport into disrepute, his playing future will be determined by an AFL Commission meeting in Sydney.

Riewoldt, who said all players wanted to see Cousins return fit and healthy, was unsure whether he could still contribute to St Kilda at the level which won him a Brownlow Medal.

"Obviously he's been a great player in the past, and whether he can get back to those heights again is a big question," Riewoldt said.

"But until the AFL make their ruling tomorrow it's really pie in the sky.

"Obviously the club's gone through a really thorough process and done due diligence to investigate the situation.

"Clearly I think all AFL players out there regardless of whether he could potentially be going to their clubs would wish him well and hope that his health is at a stage where the AFL does clear him.

"If they do, he's a champion player so we'll wait and see what happens.

"People in all walks of life would like to see him recapture his form and his health, which is most important."

Riewoldt said the leadership group was likely to be consulted if Cousins were recruited but ultimately it would be a board decision.

"I think we'd definitely be consulted but that's what you have a board for and that's what you have coaches and club executives for, to make those decisions.

"That will be a hierarchy decision."

But he said the players would be boosted if Cousins were to join them, as long as he had not lost touch.

"Absolutely, it would excite anyone if he could get back to the heights...he's a Brownlow Medallist and a premiership player so I think we all hope he can get back to that," he said.

"And if he could get back to that that's when we'd rather be playing with him than against him."

The Brisbane Lions have also expressed an interest in talking to Cousins, although neither club has yet committed to recruiting him should he be given the all-clear by the commission on Tuesday.

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