He's good, isn't he, Ange Postecoglou? The bodies are falling, but no one sees the gun go off.

For years we all wondered how, when and where it would end for the so-called "Golden Generation", who dominated the game – on and off the field –for the best part of a decade. Big names, big personalities and big pay packets. Certainly if we measure their impact by column centimetres or sound bites, they've made a valued contribution towards the unprecedented exposure the game now enjoys. However, if we strip away the hype, and have a proper footballing discussion, these modern-day superstars may not quite sit in the same position in the pantheon.

Swan song that wasn't: Many of the Socceroos' Golden Generation should have bowed out gracefully after the 2011 Asian Cup. Credit:Getty Images

But that's not a discussion, it seems, the game is ready to embrace just yet. The reaction to Harry Kewell's retirement underlines the largely uncritical nature of the debate. The timing of the announcement, on the same day as the Asian Cup draw, was either extremely ignorant, or extremely selfish, and says much about the sort of culture Postecoglou is determined to change.

That it went largely unchallenged proves the PR machine still has some fuel in the tank, which I get. Human nature as it is, no one wants to speak ill of the dead. Only when the dust settles might we be able to get some proper perspective on how good these players were in comparison to those who went before them. For that, I can't wait.