Thread starter
#1
I think it is just wonderful that a team such as the Kangas, struggling with the dollar even more than we are, going to the effort of making one of our players feel so comfortable at home. How about, to repay them, we send Houlihan over to mow David Bourke's lawn....or is it too late?
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http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/04/01/1080544633072.html
Tigers seize a Krakouer from Roos' backyard
April 2, 2004
Born a Roo, snatched by Richmond, Andrew Krakouer is now fit to fire, writes Linda Pearce.
The broken windows had been replaced, the lawns mowed, the house cleaned, the walls painted. The northern suburbs house that had stood empty for the seven years since Jim Krakouer's family returned to Perth had received a $7000 makeover in preparation for the Melbourne arrival of Andrew Krakouer, his mother Fiona and sister Rhiannon.
But, intriguingly, the spruce-up was arranged not by Richmond, the club that was soon to take a highly speculative 2000 draft gamble on Krakouer, based on just seven games for the South Fremantle Colts. The instruction came from the Kangaroos, unaware of their rival suitor for the services of the son of a former club great.
Ultimately, the Gladstone Park grass was not all that was snipped, yet the transplanting of the Krakouer family roots to Punt Road was not due to any lack of interest or regard from the Kangaroos, whose rooms Andrew had visited at Subiaco after a game earlier that season, and whose long-time administrator, Greg Miller, was an old family friend.
The problem, according to the Kangaroos' recruiting manager, Neville Stibbard, was that while North was in touch with Fiona, Richmond was quietly dealing with Jimmy, serving a 16-year sentence in Perth's Casuarina Prison for drug offences.
"There was a bit of a communication breakdown there," Stibbard recalls. "We didn't have any idea that Richmond had spoken to Jimmy, and we didn't have any idea that Richmond were talking to Andrew, because he was a pretty shy kid then, and he didn't say two words."
No hint of a serious competitor meant that Stibbard dutifully carried out Miller's pre-draft request to ready the Krakouer property for the homecoming, going so far as to connect the telephone, gas and electricity in his own name. What Stibbard did not know was that Richmond, too, was prepared to accommodate Krakouer's family baggage and physical deficiencies, and overlook his incomplete WAFL season and the fact he had departed from the traditional recruiting pathway.
Confident there was no great urgency, the Roos waited, using picks six, eight and 14 on Dylan Smith, Daniel Motlop and Daniel Harris, and selecting Drew Petrie - now a deputy vice-captain - with the second-round choice then required for a father-son nomination. Next, at No. 41, they planned to select Krakouer, son of Jim, nephew of Phil, heir to a grand family tradition at Arden Street.
Except that Richmond, with pick No. 40, got in first.
"They got him about where he should have gone, I think, which was a pick or two before ours, but, yeah, we were a bit stunned," said Stibbard, who jokes that Miller, now the Tigers' football director, must have had some secret premonition of where he, too, would end up.
Krakouer's natural football talent has always been obvious - his first manager, former Hawthorn premiership player Ben Allan, recalls "stuff like smothering balls off the boot and retaining the footy in his own hands; just little freaky things like that, that not too many players of any age can really do". However, the most substantial evidence of Krakouer's blossoming ability is more recent.
After 34 senior games in three patchy seasons, a combination of team circumstances and improved fitness prompted a chance in the midfield over summer. What followed was an exceptional performance against Collingwood at the MCG last Friday night that has been hailed in some circles as Krakouer's coming-of-age.
"He was just plucked from nowhere when he was drafted.
He rocked up, he wasn't fit, and he was a long, long way from it when he arrived," recalls former teammate and mentor Leon Cameron. "He was very, very shy, but he was a terrific kid, and he had a bit of that Krakouer magic.
"Over those three years, he's gone about it by just chipping away, and all of a sudden he can match it. He's as hard as anything. He's one of the best tackling players I've seen and he's so quick in his reactions. He's had a lot to handle, and I'm proud of the bloke, I suppose."
Danny Frawley nominated the 21-year-old as Richmond's best pre-season contributor and Friday's effort in a game Krakouer almost missed due to a family bereavement earned an on-field embrace from his coach and staunch ally. Gradually, but ever so publicly, Jimmy's boy is starting to make his own name.
"He's learnt how to train a bit better, like a lot of young kids, and he's been given more of an opportunity to play where he's more of a chance to get the ball," says football manager Greg Hutchison. "His fitness levels had only enabled him to play in the forward pocket - and it's pretty hard to play just as a small forward."
Harder still, perhaps, because as much as Richmond had always earmarked the No. 27 as a long-term project, his famous name guaranteed a level of scrutiny that exceeded the more sober internal expectation. Indeed, while Krakouer declined an interview request from The Age this week, he said recently that his father's intensity and training commitment was reflected in his own conditioning improvement, and desire to graduate from crumber to elite midfielder.
Now, nine rounds remain before Jim's fourth day release coincides with the Tigers' May 29 visit to Subiaco. In the meantime, father and son speak regularly by phone, with Jim due for parole in August and believed to be seeking permission to move back to Melbourne.
There, in the Gladstone Park home that Andrew, his partner Barbara and two young daughters recently vacated, is a growing DVD collection of Richmond games, forwarded to Fiona each week by family friend Mike Dolby, a Kangaroos supporter and head of the Visual Entertainment Group. "Jim desperately wants to see as many of Andrew's games as he can," Dolby said. "It's probably one of the highlights of his life. Or potential highlights, anyway."
And so, while the signs are that Krakouer jnr is starting to repay his club's patient investment, a few kilometres away at Arden Street, Stibbard is left to joke that a certain Tiger debt remains outstanding. "Everything was ready for Richmond. We'd done up the house - Jimmy's house," says Stibbard, an admirer of the Krakouer who got away. "I'm still waiting on Richmond to reimburse me."
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http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/04/01/1080544633072.html
Tigers seize a Krakouer from Roos' backyard
April 2, 2004
Born a Roo, snatched by Richmond, Andrew Krakouer is now fit to fire, writes Linda Pearce.
The broken windows had been replaced, the lawns mowed, the house cleaned, the walls painted. The northern suburbs house that had stood empty for the seven years since Jim Krakouer's family returned to Perth had received a $7000 makeover in preparation for the Melbourne arrival of Andrew Krakouer, his mother Fiona and sister Rhiannon.
But, intriguingly, the spruce-up was arranged not by Richmond, the club that was soon to take a highly speculative 2000 draft gamble on Krakouer, based on just seven games for the South Fremantle Colts. The instruction came from the Kangaroos, unaware of their rival suitor for the services of the son of a former club great.
Ultimately, the Gladstone Park grass was not all that was snipped, yet the transplanting of the Krakouer family roots to Punt Road was not due to any lack of interest or regard from the Kangaroos, whose rooms Andrew had visited at Subiaco after a game earlier that season, and whose long-time administrator, Greg Miller, was an old family friend.
The problem, according to the Kangaroos' recruiting manager, Neville Stibbard, was that while North was in touch with Fiona, Richmond was quietly dealing with Jimmy, serving a 16-year sentence in Perth's Casuarina Prison for drug offences.
"There was a bit of a communication breakdown there," Stibbard recalls. "We didn't have any idea that Richmond had spoken to Jimmy, and we didn't have any idea that Richmond were talking to Andrew, because he was a pretty shy kid then, and he didn't say two words."
No hint of a serious competitor meant that Stibbard dutifully carried out Miller's pre-draft request to ready the Krakouer property for the homecoming, going so far as to connect the telephone, gas and electricity in his own name. What Stibbard did not know was that Richmond, too, was prepared to accommodate Krakouer's family baggage and physical deficiencies, and overlook his incomplete WAFL season and the fact he had departed from the traditional recruiting pathway.
Confident there was no great urgency, the Roos waited, using picks six, eight and 14 on Dylan Smith, Daniel Motlop and Daniel Harris, and selecting Drew Petrie - now a deputy vice-captain - with the second-round choice then required for a father-son nomination. Next, at No. 41, they planned to select Krakouer, son of Jim, nephew of Phil, heir to a grand family tradition at Arden Street.
Except that Richmond, with pick No. 40, got in first.
"They got him about where he should have gone, I think, which was a pick or two before ours, but, yeah, we were a bit stunned," said Stibbard, who jokes that Miller, now the Tigers' football director, must have had some secret premonition of where he, too, would end up.
Krakouer's natural football talent has always been obvious - his first manager, former Hawthorn premiership player Ben Allan, recalls "stuff like smothering balls off the boot and retaining the footy in his own hands; just little freaky things like that, that not too many players of any age can really do". However, the most substantial evidence of Krakouer's blossoming ability is more recent.
After 34 senior games in three patchy seasons, a combination of team circumstances and improved fitness prompted a chance in the midfield over summer. What followed was an exceptional performance against Collingwood at the MCG last Friday night that has been hailed in some circles as Krakouer's coming-of-age.
"He was just plucked from nowhere when he was drafted.
He rocked up, he wasn't fit, and he was a long, long way from it when he arrived," recalls former teammate and mentor Leon Cameron. "He was very, very shy, but he was a terrific kid, and he had a bit of that Krakouer magic.
"Over those three years, he's gone about it by just chipping away, and all of a sudden he can match it. He's as hard as anything. He's one of the best tackling players I've seen and he's so quick in his reactions. He's had a lot to handle, and I'm proud of the bloke, I suppose."
Danny Frawley nominated the 21-year-old as Richmond's best pre-season contributor and Friday's effort in a game Krakouer almost missed due to a family bereavement earned an on-field embrace from his coach and staunch ally. Gradually, but ever so publicly, Jimmy's boy is starting to make his own name.
"He's learnt how to train a bit better, like a lot of young kids, and he's been given more of an opportunity to play where he's more of a chance to get the ball," says football manager Greg Hutchison. "His fitness levels had only enabled him to play in the forward pocket - and it's pretty hard to play just as a small forward."
Harder still, perhaps, because as much as Richmond had always earmarked the No. 27 as a long-term project, his famous name guaranteed a level of scrutiny that exceeded the more sober internal expectation. Indeed, while Krakouer declined an interview request from The Age this week, he said recently that his father's intensity and training commitment was reflected in his own conditioning improvement, and desire to graduate from crumber to elite midfielder.
Now, nine rounds remain before Jim's fourth day release coincides with the Tigers' May 29 visit to Subiaco. In the meantime, father and son speak regularly by phone, with Jim due for parole in August and believed to be seeking permission to move back to Melbourne.
There, in the Gladstone Park home that Andrew, his partner Barbara and two young daughters recently vacated, is a growing DVD collection of Richmond games, forwarded to Fiona each week by family friend Mike Dolby, a Kangaroos supporter and head of the Visual Entertainment Group. "Jim desperately wants to see as many of Andrew's games as he can," Dolby said. "It's probably one of the highlights of his life. Or potential highlights, anyway."
And so, while the signs are that Krakouer jnr is starting to repay his club's patient investment, a few kilometres away at Arden Street, Stibbard is left to joke that a certain Tiger debt remains outstanding. "Everything was ready for Richmond. We'd done up the house - Jimmy's house," says Stibbard, an admirer of the Krakouer who got away. "I'm still waiting on Richmond to reimburse me."
