IT IS a measure of Justin Koschitzke's regard as a great St Kilda clubman that nobody on Monday wanted to be the one to publicly write his football epitaph.

His ill-conceived and even more poorly-executed elbow to the head of Collingwood's Jamie Elliott will cost him at least two weeks on the sidelines courtesy of the Match Review Panel and three if he contests it at the Tribunal and loses. 

Koschitzke's future remains unclear, due to his poor form and St Kilda's emerging key position prospects knocking on the door for selection.

He sits on 197 games and there are those, such as former Essendon spearhead Matthew Lloyd, who have argued that irrespective of his forthcoming milestone, that the Saints should immediately pull the pin on his career.

"They probably won't win the next two games (against Carlton and Adelaide). You wonder whether they'll decide to play the kids and whether he [coach Scott Watters] ever plays Justin Koschitzke again," Lloyd said on Channel Nine on Sunday.

But St Kilda people are keeping mum on the subject. "Great bloke," said one former identity. "I don't want to be seen dancing on his grave," said another.

And they have a point, up to a point. Koschitzke has been a warrior for the Saints, with 245 goals, the 2001 Rising Star Award, three Grand Finals and two night premierships to his name. 

"He started out really exciting and he had that period where we thought he was the best thing going around," recalled former Saints coach Stan Alves on Sunday, speaking on the ABC's Sunday Inquisition. 

The second pick in the 2000 national draft, Koschitzke won the Rising Star on debut the next year. Nick Riewoldt, taken with the pick before in the same draft, would win the Rising Star in 2002.

By 2004, the Saints were a dominant team with the Riewoldt-Koschitzke combination a key reason why. Riewoldt, with his huge aerobic base, would dominate anywhere inside the Saints' forward half. Less athletic, but with a great leap and hands, Koschitzke marked everything close to goal.

St Kilda fell just short of a flag that year but it seemed that premiership success, built around these two twin towers, was just around the corner. Hawthorn hoped to emulate the Saints when it drafted Jarryd Roughead and Lance Franklin at the draft later that year and it succeeded. The pair kicked 188 goals between them as the Hawks won the 2008 flag and might well yet take the Hawks to another before they're done.

Riewoldt has remained a star throughout for the Saints but Koschitzke - ever since three magnificent weeks from rounds 15 to 17 of 2005 when he earned best afield votes in the Brownlow Medal over consecutive matches - has been in a slow, but steady decline. 

Injuries, particularly a head clash with Daniel Giansiracusa that wiped out nearly all of 2006, have played their part.

He was a solid contributor in 2009 with 48 goals from 23 games as St Kilda nearly won the flag, but has not contributed much else since and as the Saints embark on a period of rebuilding – not that the club is calling it that – Watters needs to make a call.

"The form has deserted him," Alves said on the radio. "He's just a shadow of his former self and that brain fade the other night, the raised arm that hit (Jamie) Elliott was the lowest of the low and I think Justin Koschitzke now runs the risk of being remembered for all the wrong reasons."

Alves believes the Saints will let Koschitzke "limp to the line". And most St Kilda fans would both agree and hope he is right. There is still distaste among them for the undignified departures from the club of both Luke Ball and Brendon Goddard. 

But there is also an impatience to close the door on him for good and to get on with the future. The Saints traded away the 12th and 13th selections in the NAB AFL Draft for Claremont's Tom Lee and Gold Coast's Tom Hickey and it is time to see what they bring to the table.

And then there's the intriguing Spencer White, who was the club's second selection, No.25 overall at last year's national draft. Saints fans have been salivating for the past week after his long running goal for Sandringham against Werribee last week that closely resembled those Lance Franklin kicked against Essendon back in 2010.

White, whose tall and angular build is similar to Franklin and is now known to some Saints fans as "Buddy" White, has been the subject of a message-board driven campaign for his immediate senior selection.

He needs to play at some stage this year. Lee and Hickey must do so more immediately. 

Koschitzke will get the three more he needs to reach the double-century of games for St Kilda. But it then it might be best for all concerned if it becomes a case of 200 and out.