James Gordon Krakouer (born 13 October 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the 1980s and '90s for North Melbourne and St Kilda in the VFL and Claremont in the WAFL.
In September 1974, Jim and a cousin were charged with rape, and despite claiming that the sex was consensual, they were convinced by their lawyer to plead guilty and were sentenced to two years imprisonment, with a six-month minimum.
Upon his release, Krakouer returned to Mount Barker and, despite having missed a third of the football season, won the league's best and fairest award by five votes.
[2] 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 in jail.
They played their first state game together in 1981, in an 87-point win over South Australia, with Jim and Gary Buckenara sharing the Simpson Medal as best players.
The main reasons for choosing the Kangaroos over Geelong were due to Western Australian football legend Barry Cable being the North Melbourne coach and the contract payments being guaranteed rather than performance-based.
[6] In their second season in the VFL, Jim and Phil both kicked 44 goals and shared the leading goalkicker award at North Melbourne.