So long Kouta, who simply was the most talented footballer to set foot on a football field, as Sam Newman once said.

3 highlites

That last 1/4 in '99 I 'll never forget.

Game against Sydney at OO in 2000, he was awesome, probably the best single game I'm ever seen.

Game against WC 18 marks etc...

Sad to see the end of Kouta

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Oompa loompa doompety dee
If you are wise you'll listen to me

And with the great man goes the end of an era. Thanks for the memories Kouta. Truly a champion of the game and a hero for the Navy Blues. Loved his comments in the media a couple of days ago saying that he couldnt see himself ever involved at another club. Gave his all for the club and then some.

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"Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?" Billy Connolly

I implore our youngsters to dig deep this weekend for the Koutaman. What better way to bid farewell to a great big occasion player than to beat the filth on the big stage and de-rail their run to September. No player in the navy blue should walk off the ground this Saturday and still have a breath left in their bodies. GO BLUES!!

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" Koutoufides has taken the last quarter by the scruff of the neck..." Commentary Drew Morphett Last Qtr '99 Prelim. Pure Gold.

Thanks for the memories Kouta. You are and always will be a True Blue Carlton Legend. #43.

Onya Kouta. Thanks for everything, and best wishes for the future.

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Cer 'ch 'n alluog Blues

Share all the expressed sentiments
Easily my favourite Carlton player of all time
Such a shame the last 5 years have been such a lean period for Kouta and the club
Would love to give him a big send off on Saturday

Great player ... package his highlights and you may have never seen better.

At his best he was the one of the best ever.

Cut down in his prime by injury.

With Kouta retiring this is the first time since 1968 that a premiership player is not on a Carlton list.

One of the most perfectly gifted players ever to play the game.

Thanks for all the memories Kouta.

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

I think DownUnderChick already has.

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"Whoever said you can't buy happiness forgot about puppies." - Gene Hill

I'm feeling a bit emotional about this, as watching Kouta's career the last couple of years was like watching an elderly relative slowly pass away. You kinda know it's coming, but when it finally happens you still feel the same amount of loss.

Just wanted to share one of my favourite Kouta memories.

Was a game against Geelong at Princes Park, I think in '93 or '94, the mists of time and my fading memory are conspiring against me.

Anyway, it was a time where we thought we were on to something pretty special in Kouta, but the rest of the football world were still yet to recognise it (a bit like Setanta now, for our younger readers).

Anyway, Geelong cleared the ball from defence with a long kick to the wing where three Cats players had gotten loose. It looked to be a pretty run of the mill clearance, when from nowhere, running like a gazelle, came young Kouta, his mop of wavy hair bouncing on his head with the same enthusiasm that he was approaching the contest with. In what was to become his trademark, he leapt at the ball, somehow twisted his body around to get a hand on the ball and tap it to space. He then dived on the ball, at which point the three stunned Cats players dived on him. Unperturbed, Kouta got up to his knees, and with the three Cats hanging off him, proceeded to run on his knees until a Carlton player came in for the handball receive. The strength and agility displayed left me in absolute awe.

It was a sublime piece of play, the type of thing that gets superseded by big marks and spectacular goals (both of which Kouta has plenty), but it's a piece of play that will live long in my mind's eye until the ravages of dementia take it from me (which some might suggest isn't too far away)

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Richard Pratt - A Carlton legend.

I think DUC was highlighting his package rather than packaging his highlights.

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|♥♥♥♥♥♥| http://www.blueseum.org |♥♥♥♥♥♥|

Essendon* breathed a massive sigh of relief in 2000 when Kouta went down with his knee. People often forget our own 13 game winning streak that season and just how instrumental he was to our structure.

Good luck for the future bigfella. On your day there was simply no one better.

Call it what you will guys, but there was no finer package EVER than the Koutaman!

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“It is a state of mind, a system of belief, a way of seeing the world, a deep faith that, because you are Carlton, you belong to something great.” - Mike Fitzpatrick articulating what Out of the Blue means.

A true champion of the game. Shame his career has to end like this.

GO KOUTA

did anybody else happen to catch the press confrence when the question was asked about his famous #43?

Kouta said that Aisakie wanted to wear it.

I gotta say, i don't like the idea of anybody else wearing that number FROM ANY TEAM! But, if there had to be one player to do so i'd love to see Aisakie be that player!

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"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit"
- Aristotle

Thanks Big Fella for some of the Greatest moments I've experienced at the footy. Moments that will stay with me forever.

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Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth. ~Ludwig Börne

Not much more that I can add apart from thanking the big fella for all of the memories.

A few individual games have been mentioned such as the '99 Prelim' and the Swans game in 2000. However my favourite Kouta game would have to be vs the Kangaroos at Princes Park in 2000.

From memory Kouta had over 30 possessions and kicked 5 goals. Pagan moved Carey onto him at one stage, so rattled and reactive were the Kangaroos. In one passage of play Kouta plucked the ball out of the ruck and slammed it through for a goal in an unstoppable show of agility and strength.

Best regards big fella

Good luck Kouta, you gave us many special memories.

I can still remember a game against Collingwood at Waverley (think it was '93), when Kouta, running at full pelt along the outer wing where I was sitting, picked the ball up from the top of the ball. It was to become a signature move, but it absolutely took my breath away. And I still think we were a big chance in 2000 before he did his knee.

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I love spinach

Kouta Kouta Kouta

Champion player

Hes done it all. Dancing with the stars, AFL premiership, all thats left now is for him to go on ItTakes2

On ya Kouta.

Will always be a Blue Boy.

Not bad for someone who, I believe, followed the filth as a kid.

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.