By Wayne Campbell
It was his smile and the glint in his eye that drew you to him. And his name, of course. For those of us who grew up watching his dad and uncle in the ’80s, to have a Krakouer in our midst was quite exciting.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Richmond had some recruiting misses, but this one felt like a win from the start. Andrew Krakouer was taken by the Tigers with pick 41 in the 2000 national draft. We’d been shown some VHS highlights by our recruiting team, and they were pretty special.
Andrew Krakouer died from a suspected heart attack at the age of 42.Credit: Pat Scala
He was unique, though, in that he was a goalsneak … who wasn’t quick! His crumbing was elite, his skills fine, but he lacked speed. He would need to be very good at other parts of his game to make it. And so he worked hard. At this craft and on his fitness. And he had a step to die for, which compensated somewhat for this lack of speed.
His first goal in first game showed what he could do. The ball was in congestion, there were four Essendon players circling. “Krak” grabbed the ball like it had a handle on it and put it through from an angle. This was to be repeated many times. If the game of football was played in a phone booth, higher honours would have come Krak’s way.
Off the field, he quickly became popular. He was so shy, but respectful. He looked you in the eye and there was an inner determination.
He showed this determination in many ways. One of them was swimming, which we did a lot of. In short Krak couldn’t swim, but he never shirked it. Our conditioning coach Noel Duncan once had to make a decision. See the start of his first child’s birth or save Krak from drowning in the murky waters of Port Phillip Bay. He caught the end of the birth.
I sat on our gym floor one day having a talk to him. I was in my late 20s and my life hadn’t thrown me too many challenges. He was 18, had two children and his father was in prison. We shared nothing in common but a football jumper, but we became close. He taught me more than he will ever know.
We had a football trip to Queenstown at the end of 2003. Krak called me late one night and said he and David Rodan were in the local police station. I asked him what they had done. “We’ve done nothing,” he said.
When I got to the police station the atmosphere was tense. Andrew had a look in his eye that I had never seen before. To say it was hatred may be too strong. It was at best, wary and disillusioned.
My memory is vague but we established that in fact the two boys couldn’t have done the crime that they were being accused of, so we got out of there. We found out later that evening that the person who did commit the crime was a six-foot seven white man. I understood a bit more about Andrew’s journey after that night.
Wayne Campbell and Krakouer after a pre-season win over Carlton in 2002.Credit: Getty Images
From the moment he walked into the club he was the coaches’ pet. Danny Frawley loved him. “Spud” had played with Andrew’s dad Jim at St Kilda, so maybe that’s where it started. But it grew from there. There is a special photo after the first game of 2004 of Spud and Krak. Andrew had lost a family member that week but had wanted to play. Post game Spud went to the middle of the ground to be with Krak. Spud had three daughters but at that moment he had a son as well.
When Andrew was charged with a serious assault after being delisted from the Tigers, those who knew him were surprised. He liked boxing but had never been violent. He made a serious mistake, he owned it, and was remorseful. He spent time in prison.
When visiting Perth a few of us went to visit him in jail. We ran a training session for the prison footy team. While someone was explaining a drill, a few ratbags were up the back not concentrating, talking amongst themselves. I certainly wasn’t going to intervene! Krak did. He did it respectfully. “Hey boys, listen up. You might learn something.” The boys did. You could see they respected Andrew. He was different inside. He was strangely at peace with himself and had become a leader.
When he got out of prison, he set about getting his life back on track. And he did it with aplomb. His footy took off again, he was a great partner and a loving dad. And his friends loved him.
He played in a grand final, with Collingwood, took mark of the year and became a respected spokesperson for the Indigenous community.
I’ve often wondered whether his life would have turned out this way if he hadn’t gone to prison. I suspect it would have. Was he seeking redemption, or did he just make one really poor mistake? It doesn’t really matter.
I saw Krak in Perth a month ago for the Indigenous All Stars game. His last words will stay with me. “Lets grab a few of the Richmond boys some time, go out, and see where the night takes us …” with that grin and those eyes, that start low, and then rise up to meet yours, and make your heart sing. If only.
Vale Krak.
Wayne Campbell is a former Richmond captain and current football boss for the Gold Coast Suns.
