Flashy Krakouer puts in cracker
03 July 2005
Sunday Herald Sun
Scot Palmer
WE knew the father and the uncle, and we remember how league marketing people tried to fashion a slogan to suit their flamboyant style of play. Yesterday at the MCG we saw flashes of that old Krakouer magic again.
Andrew Krakouer, the shy son of Jim, turned the big arena in to his stage and sparked the Tigers' great escape.
After leading at one stage in the third quarter by 45 points, it was only the courage of players such as Krakouer, former captain Wayne Campbell and defender Darren Gaspar that staved off Sydney, enabling Richmond to cling on to a one-point win and their finals hopes.
Some will say the Tigers were lucky, but after winning three of the four quarters and absorbing one of the keenest finishes the Swans could muster they would have been unlucky to lose.
How many times would big Barry Hall be kept goalless? How many times would matchwinners Adam Goodes, Nick Davis and Michael O'Loughlin be held to average performances? And how often would a side win a game when for most of the last term it could not enter its 50m zone?
The gods, and little opportunists like Krakouer, were on Richmond's side yesterday when inexplicably the team went defensive when its plan should have been to attack.
Normally, Krakouer is known for his workmanlike in-and-under efforts, which had him selected in all of Richmond's games last year. But yesterday it was his play making and tackling that showed the Tigers the way, even in the desperate, last moments when Sydney scored five goals in a row, bringing the game to within a kick and sending footy historians scurrying for their records to see whether it was to be the Swans' best come-from-behind victory.
Coach Terry Wallace must have tried to get the message to his troops late in the match not to fear attacking, but their mindset had done a turnabout and most could think of only one thing; how to save four premiership points.
Key forward Matthew Richardson, with four goals, stood like a beacon in the Richmond scoring zone, while the game was played well away from him. He must have been horrified to see Amon Buchanan, Goodes and Jared Crouch bring the Swans to within seven points, then the brilliant O'Loughlin reduce it to only one as time-on started.
Meanwhile, though, Richmond's No. 27 appeared with the ball and disappeared under a pile of bodies as the Tigers desperately tried to hang on. Krakouer finished as Richmond's third-best possession getter with 14 kicks, nine handballs and three telling goals.
Richmond has always had faith that the slightly built Aborigine, picked up at No.41 in the 2000 national draft, would light up the 'G one day.
Well, it happened yesterday.
Maybe he will have a companion in Darwin recruit Richard Tambling, if two plays early in the game when vision, speed and accuracy were needed can be repeated in matches ahead. The pair have become close mates at Punt Rd and a new combination might have been formed.
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