spade a spade. what a ridiculous staement. how about this spade. rod, yours views are unwarranted and wrong. i kouta at his best was incredible. quite simply unstoppable. i remember him making michael voss (the man that most football experts think is one of the greatest footballers of all time) look foolish and downright second rate in 2001.... the year brisbane won the flag. make no mistake anthony koutoufides has been dealt a fickle hand by the footy gods. so much so that if kouta had not destroyed his knee against richmond in 2001, i would suggest that the last 4 years would have been a very different story for the blues. perhaps not premiership threatening, but certainly not the complete disaster that they have been.
now for the true essence of this thread. i think from that previous paragraph you can probably tell that i am a huge fan of kouta. and i advocate the sentiment of most others that kouta needs to pull the pin. all that is being achieved by his playing on is giving flower ammunition to stick the boots in. the memory of his phenomenal ability is being tainted by what is happening now. i urge all who are having doubts over their memories of kouta to peruse a few tapes of games gone by. have a look at the 95 GF. i watched it the other day. was BOG by a mile. have a look at the 99 prelim. we all know it. watch any game from 2000. have a look at the brisbane game at OO in 2001.
as a leader kouta has had wow factor in buckets. but he isn't a natural leader. i think that the best form of leadership to be shown right now is to bow out gracefully. maybe even before the year is out. there are some pretty suitable games coming up that could be a great send-off for a great man. why not round 21 V Essendon*. that would be fitting. especially if it could inspire a win over a loathed enemy. just to haunt sheedy a little more. maybe he could even belt johnson for his final hurrah!!!

retire round 21. promote setanta or jesse smith for the final game. there is nothing more to prove kouta. the time is right.