Wayward West Coast star Ben Cousins is back in Australia, but if Brisbane coach Leigh Matthews has his way, it will be months before he returns to a football field.

Matthews has called for the 28-year-old former Eagles skipper to serve a 12-match suspension.

The call came as Cousins arrived home in Perth, after spending four weeks in Malibu's exclusive Summit Centre to treat a drug addiction.

Accompanied by his father Bryan and Eagles player welfare officer Ian Miller, Cousins had to push his way through a mass of photographers, cameramen and reporters at Perth airport.

He told the media throng it was "good to be home".

He also responded to a query about whether he had spent long enough in rehabilitation to beat his addiction with "I hope so", before being driven away.

The Eagles and the AFL have said he will need to meet a series of stringent conditions before he is allowed to play again.

These include making a public statement and an assurance he is drug free, with the AFL's medical officers having to give him the all-clear.

But Matthews said the AFL should penalise him as though he had failed the league's "three strikes" illicit drugs policy.

Under the policy, three positive tests attract a six to 12-match ban and Matthews said the 12-game penalty should be backdated to round one.

"I would have thought not playing for the 12 weeks would be fair and reasonable by my standards - (suspended) from round one," Matthews said.

"A third strike drug penalty is 12 weeks. I guess a lot of people are saying `well he hasn't (tested positive) through the AFL system.'

"But if you go into rehab there's a fair chance you're actually indicted a fair few times.

"So maybe not playing for 12 weeks would be a reasonable, consequential punishment."

Eagles chairman Dalton Gooding said Cousins' return to football would not be discussed until his medical issues were cleared up.

Cousins will undergo continued treatment through an outpatient program in Perth.

Should the Eagles clear him to play, the AFL would have the final say over his return to the game.

"When (the Eagles) present him to play, we will judge whether we think he is ready," AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said.

Matthews also dismissed the meeting between the AFL Commission and an apologetic West Coast hierarchy in Melbourne as "a PR gesture".

"I think that's all it was, window dressing really," he said.

"What they've said to the public is `we are not happy with this so we will call them in and tell them we are not happy.

"'We could send them an email or a letter, but we'll call them in because it will get good coverage and hopefully say to the world out there we are not happy and everyone else knows too.'"

He said the AFL could suspend Cousins under a "conduct unbecoming" charge.

"There's this great rule that the AFL have discovered in 1985, when I was the first recipient, `conduct unbecoming'," he said.

"When you've got the conduct unbecoming rule you can do what you like when you like if you choose to."

Matthews was referring to his brush with the law in 1985 after he shattered Geelong's Neville Bruns' jaw in an off-the-ball incident at Princes Park.

It led to Matthews being deregistered for four weeks by the then VFL for "conduct unbecoming" and being charged by police with assault.

Matthews pleaded guilty and was fined $1000.

Eagles forward Ashley Hansen said players were looking forward to seeing their troubled team-mate.

"That's exciting that obviously things have gone well over there for him," Hansen said.

"We haven't spoken about it as a group, I haven't heard from him personally, but it will be nice to see him again.

"I suppose his health is the priority and it's good that obviously that part's gone well and when he gets back here hopefully he'll continue to do the right things to get back."

But he said the unbeaten club had the depth to keep winning without him.

"We've shown he's not a necessity," Hansen said.

"Don't take that out of context by saying we don't want him or we don't need him."

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