Andrew Krakouer tribute: How Krakouer made the most of second chance
Andrew Krakouer epitomised making the most of a second chance at life. Lauren Wood writes about the man who never shied away from his mistakes and tried to give his all back.
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WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following article contains the name and images of deceased persons.
Andrew Krakouer epitomised making the most of a second chance at life.
It was 2000 when Krakouer looked set to follow in his father, legendary North Melbourne player Jim’s footsteps in the big league, drafted to Richmond.
It was 2008 when he lost his chance at playing the game he grew up playing.
A Fremantle incident alongside his brother Tyrone in 2006 saw Andrew charged with assault causing grievous bodily harm and sentenced to at least 32 months jail.
Then a father of two, he served 16 months behind bars in scenes he admitted were reminiscent of his own childhood.
It almost broke him.
But football was a lifeline in Wooroloo Prison — where he shared a cell with his brother — and convinced him he shouldn’t throw away the talent that he so visibly possessed.
And he owned his mistakes, always, and remained determined not to waste his second chance.
“You can’t change what happened. I have learnt from it and have done whatever I could to make sure something like that never happens again,” he told this masthead’s Sacked podcast in 2020.
“Every situation is unique and has its own dynamics, and sometimes other people might not understand, but at the end of the day I made a mistake.
“I made the wrong decision. There is no other blame on anyone else … it was my choice.
“Not only had I hurt the victim and his family and friends, but the ripple effect was that my career was basically ruined at that time.
“My daughters didn‘t have a father; I wasn’t around for my partner.”
Krakouer was 11 when his father was sentenced to 16 years jail on drug charges, at Gerard Neesham’s Clontarf Academy at 16, at Richmond as a teenager and South Fremantle as a young father.
Former teammate Matthew Richardson said Krakouer “always greeted you with a hug and a warm smile”.
“He had a great sense of humour and was one of those people you felt really good to be around.... just a ripper person.
“As a player, he was super talented. He was the best crumbing forward I played with . . . the perfect crumber, and he was a good mark for his size as well.
“When he was on song, he was unbeatable.
“This is such terrible news. My heart goes out to his partner Barbara and his four daughters, who he adored.”
Open about the reality that hit him when his own cell door slammed in 2008, Krakouer – who died on Sunday aged 42 following a heart attack at his family home – was drafted by Collingwood upon his release.
“I was very grateful to get another opportunity,” he said on Sacked.
“After what I had been through, for a footy club to look beyond that, (and see) I was trying to be a better person in life, not only on the football field, (was incredible).
“I wanted to be a better father and a better man, more than a better footballer when I got out of jail.”
The only club to offer him a contract, Krakouer played 35 games in black and white before his career as a player ended at the end of 2013 after 137 games.
Former Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse - whose coaching lifeline resurrected Krakouer’s career after his jail stint - described his former charge’s turnaround in life as “totally inspirational”.
“Derek Hine has got to be credited with that (getting him to Collingwood),” he told this masthead.
“I was just the coach. I said yes, I certainly want to do it, because I saw some greatness in him and he was just a great lad.
“What he’d been through, I thought, you’ve got to be really special to go through what he’s been through. He’d paid his dues, paid his price, but he was such a beautiful boy.
And he was loved by all. He was really loved by all of us.
“His story alone is just inspirational. Totally inspirational. To be able to turn your life around like he did takes a special person.
“You could be really bitter and twisted with what took place, but he got on with it, accepted his penalty and just was an outstanding person.”
Despite his career ending in 2013, he was really just getting started.
As a public speaker and mentor to youth – particularly the incarcerated – Krakouer drew on his own experiences to help others, and, according to his former Swan Districts coach Brian Dawson, “owned his sentence with good grace” and repaid the club “in spades”.
In 2021, Krakouer grappled with whether to speak up about his experiences at Collingwood in 2012.
He’d stood in front of his locker, he told this masthead, and heard three teammates sharing a brazen joke about Aboriginals, which he said used the word “b … ng”.
“These guys were my teammates and I had to play footy with them. It was a moment where I really thought to myself, ‘what am I doing here?’,” he said.
“I really wondered if this was where I should be working, because I felt that it was an unsafe place. It was a lot to process, and there are only a handful of people that I have ever told that story to.”
He spoke of how racism “changes people”, and declared “we are just sick of it”, admitting how he “really struggled” with whether to speak out, alongside the likes of Heritier Lumumba and Leon Davis.
“I thought the footy club could have done it a lot better,” he said of the handling of the club’s Do Better report at the time.
“I was pretty disappointed in how it all panned out. There were some excuses made and I still don’t think they really understand or acknowledge what has really happened, and the trauma that it has caused.”
He felt a responsibility to make change.
“I feel that I have a responsibility to not only continue my family legacy, but to continue standing up and calling out racism,” Krakouer said.
“I began speaking on the public circuit prior to COVID and the response I receive when talking to corporates and community clubs on the issue of racism and my experiences has been overwhelmingly positive. It inspires me to continue pushing forward with it and it really gets through to people.”
He fell out of love with the game, that was slowly rediscovered over recent years as he ventured into the media via the Marngrook Footy Show, Yokayi Footy and in a special comments role in AFL Women’s with Fox Footy.
He also penned a children’s book, “My Dad’s Gone Away” in 2024, addressing the experiences of children with incarcerated parents – yet another legacy of his refusal to waste his prized second chance that has now been ripped away far too soon.
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