Andrew Krakouer: Within my spirit I felt sad

Andrew Krakouer, 152-game player with the Richmond Tigers and Collingwood Magpies, joins Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn on an enthralling edition of the Inside 50 podcast. Krakouer talks about growing up in a family of AFL royalty, as the son of North Melbourne Kangaroos’ Jim Krakouer and nephew of Phil Krakouer, before being drafted to the Richmond Tigers, where he was coached by the late Danny Frawley. After seven seasons with the Tigers, Krakouer was delisted following a charge of serious assault, which saw Krakeour sentenced to prison in Western Australia. His memories of this period are harrowing, but Krakouer persevered with football following his release with the help of Swan Districts in the WAFL, where he would deliver a premiership in 2010. Mick Malthouse brought Krakouer to the Collingwood Magpies for their premiership defence, and Krakouer made an impact from the get-go providing a mercurial spark in the forward line. In the 2011 AFL Grand Final, Krakouer kicked three goals by half-time before the Magpies faded in their loss to the Geelong Cats. Personally, Krakouer admits he would have loved Malthouse to be at Collingwood "a little longer", but acknowledges the handover to Nathan Buckley was "very different" and a decision Eddie McGuire and the board made. Krakouer reflects on the AFL environment and says it didn't give him great confidence when opening up on Indigenous issues.