Beginning his AFL career in 1992, ‘Kouta’ quickly established himself as oneof the most versatile and athletic players ever to play the game. Of Greek and Northern Italian heritage, Koutoufides made an early choice to switch from track and field athletics to Australian rules football. A pin-up boy not only at Carlton, in November 2006 won the final of Channel 7’s hit show Dancing with the Stars. Kouta has never been far from the news (his reported $1 million contract caused a huge...
Beginning his AFL career in 1992, ‘Kouta’ quickly established himself as oneof the most versatile and athletic players ever to play the game. Of Greek and Northern Italian heritage, Koutoufides made an early choice to switch from track and field athletics to Australian rules football. A pin-up boy not only at Carlton, in November 2006 won the final of Channel 7’s hit show Dancing with the Stars. Kouta has never been far from the news (his reported $1 million contract caused a huge stir) but there have been very few players who could match Koutoufides’ sheer dominance in the late ’90s, and at his best he is simply indestructible. Koutoufides was the Brownlow Medal favourite in 2000, the year in which he won the Leigh Matthews Trophy for the league’s Most Valuable Player, as chosen by the players. He won the Carlton Best & Fairest in 2001 & 2005, received All Australian honours in 1995 & 2000, and was one of the best on field in Carlton’s 1995 Grand Final win. He also played in Carlton pre-season premiership teams in 1997, 2005 and 2007. Koutoufides has felt the exhilaration of the highs but also suffered the lows. He was the Carlton Captain during the tumultuous period between 2003-2006, when the club was in financial crisis, and twice finished bottom of the ladder. In Kouta, Anthony speaks candidly about his amazing football career, his life outside of football and how the game has changed during his time at the top.
