Career
Krakouer made his senior football debut for North Mount Barker in 1974 at the age of 15, kicking five goals. They were incarcerated in a juvenile prison 300 kilometres from Mount Barker in Bunbury. The following year, only three weeks after gaining his driver"s licence, he crashed his car into a road worker and was found guilty of dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to 18 months" jail.
While in prison, this time near Mount Barker, he was once allowed to play football for North Mount Barker on day release, but this caused outrage in the Albany community.
Krakouer moved to Perth to play for Claremont in the WAFL in 1977. At first he played in the junior Colts team, but by July the league team"s poor form had prompted the club president Wal Maskiell to ask that Krakouer be given a game in the league team
He performed well and maintained his position in the side for the rest of the season. Jim was named in the state squad and Philosophy scored more goals than any other debutant.
Jim made his interstate debut in 1979, a year before Philosophy.
In October 1981, in Jim and Philosophy"s last game for Claremont, they were part of Claremont"s WAFL Premiership side, beating the 1980 premiers South Fremantle. After being pursued by Geelong and North Melbourne, the Krakouer brothers signed with North Melbourne on a three-year contract worth a total of $750,000. The main reasons for choosing the Kangaroos over Geelong were due to West Australian football legend Barry Cable being the North Melbourne coach and the contract payments being guaranteed, rather than performance-based.
Philosophy was the leading goalkicker in 1985 and 1987.
The Krakouer brothers were praised for their highly skillful play and the manner in which they often passed to each other from almost any position. In one match report in 1986 they were referred to as the Pelé and Maradona of the VFL. Jim Krakouer was named in the Indigenous Team of the Century in 2005.
In 1996 Krakouer was convicted and imprisoned for 16 years for his part in a drug trafficking scheme transporting amphetamines from Melbourne to Perth. Having served nine years of his sentence, he was released on work release in August 2004.
