Nathan Kreuger grew up spending time with Andrew McLeod and his family. The former SANFL player is close with McLeod’s son and was part of the McLeod Centre of Excellence. The Adelaide Crows’ games record holder pens an exclusive column for AFLPlayers.com.au on Geelong’s newest recruit.
I’ve known Nathan Kreuger and his family for as long as I can remember. His dad Jamie and I played footy together at the Darwin Buffaloes in the Northern Territory before I left to pursue my own career.
Through our connection in Darwin, the relationship between our two families was born.
Although distance separated us for some time while I was playing at Adelaide, when they moved to down to South Australia we reconnected and our families became close. My son became great mates with Nath which has been a huge part of my involvement with him — they’re thick as thieves together.
Nath’s become a part of our family now and has been involved in the Indigenous programs my wife Rachael and I run through our McLeod Centre of Excellence. When he was part of the programs he would come and stay with us in Adelaide so he could be close to his football and state level training.
His family live in Victor Harbor, which is about an hour away, so he would come down and stay with us on and off whenever he needed to ease his workload.
For such a big bloke, Nath’s quite quick and agile. He can play anywhere — both key positions, forward, half-back and on the wing as well. He’s got a long left-foot kick and loves a celebration when he kicks a goal.
He’s courageous too, often jumping into a pack without fear and I know it puts the wind up his dad watching his boy jumping back into a pack the way he does.
I think Nath will fit in very nicely with the Geelong boys. He’s got some of the territory boys in Nakia Cockatoo and Brandan Parfitt there with him — their dads played footy with Nath’s dad.
I phoned Patrick Dangerfield as soon as it was official making sure he would look after him. It will help Nath knowing he’s already got a connection to the team.
As a family, we can’t wait to see him make his mark at AFL level in 2019.