Andrew Krakouer and Wayne Campbell had noticed in common, but that’s why they were friends
It was his smile and the glitter in the eyes that attracted you. And his name, of course. For those of us who grew up looking at his father and uncle in the 80s, having a Crakouer among us was quite exciting.
At the end of the 90s and early 2000s, Richmond had some missed recruitment, but this seemed to be a victory from the beginning. Andrew Krakouer was taken from the tigers with pick 41 in the national draft of 2000. We were shown some salient VHS points from our recruitment team and were quite special.
Andrew Krakouer died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 42.Credit: Bed
It was unique, however, as it was a Goalneak … that was not fast! His cricket was elite, his skills well, but he missed the speed. He would need to be very good in other parts of his game to do it. And so he worked hard. In this profession and on its physical form. And he had a step to die, which compensated a little for this lack of speed.
His first goal in the first game showed what he could do. The ball was in congestion, there were four players to be a circle. “Krak” grabbed the ball as if he had a handle and crossed it from a corner. This was to be repeated many times. If the game of football was played in a telephone booth, the highest honors would have reached Krak.
Off the pitch, it became quickly popular. He was so shy, but respectful. He looked at you in the eyes and there was an inner determination.
He showed this determination in many ways. One of them was swimming, of which we did a lot. In short, Krak was unable to swim, but he never made him subtract. Our conditioning coach Noel Duncan once had to make a decision. Look at the beginning of the birth of his first child or saves Krak from the analysis in the murky waters of the Port Phillip bay. It took the end of birth.
I sat on the floor of our gym one day talking to him. I was about 20 years old and my life had not launched too many challenges. He was 18, he had two children and his father was in prison. We have not shared anything in common except a football sweater, but we approached. He taught me more than he will never know.
We made a football trip to Queenstown at the end of 2003. Krak called me late at night and said he and David Rodan were in the local police station. I asked him what they did. “We didn’t do anything,” he said.
