TROUBLED former West Coast star Ben Cousins says he is living out of a backpack as the toll of his public drug battle continues to mount.

The 38-year-old retired footballer has conceded he has spent time between friends’ couches in an illustration of how far the 2006 premiership player has fallen in the past decade.

Cousins’ father Bryan was at Armadale Magistrate’s Court on Thursday to watch his son’s appearance for breaching a violence restraining order taken out by his former partner Maylea Tinecheff.

Cousins wasfined after pleading guilty to the breach.

The former Eagles skipper opted to take a lift with a News Corp reporter upon leaving court, saying he felt “pretty crap” as he was driven to a friend’s house nearby.

“It’s hard to know where to go to,” Cousins told News Corp.

“I am living out of a backpack at the moment.

“I move between three mates’ houses, spend time on different couches.

"There’s a lady I knock around with these days who I stay with, otherwise I just move on to another place.”

Camera Icon Ben Cousins in full flight during his football career. Credit: PerthNow, Trevor Collens

Cousins was arrested on Tuesday after he was spotted in a park with his two children and former partner, in breach of the VRO that required him to remain 50m from her.

Cousins said he was eager to see more of his kids, aged five and three.

“I know I have my issues, but I have never been a violent or bad father,” he said.

“I love my kids. I just want to be able to see them more.”