Former Collingwood forward Nathan Kreuger signs with Grovedale in Geelong league

Nathan Kreuger is locked in at Geelong VFL, and now he has signed with a local club in the region.

Nathan Kreuger has signed with Grovedale. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Grovedale has landed former Collingwood big man Nathan Kreuger with a connection helping the Tigers get him over the line.

This masthead revealed last month that Kreuger signed with Geelong’s VFL after being delisted by Collingwood.

The Tigers reached out to the 196cm forward in November as Grovedale women’s premiership player Jorja Kirsopp-Cole is the sister of Kreuger’s fiancee Tess — an Australian 800 metre runner.

Grovedale and ex-St KIlda and Geelong ruckman Ryan Abbott, a former teammate of Kreuger at the Cats, was also pivotal in luring him to the club.

“He has been great to deal with. We had a conversation last Thursday, we caught up in person when he was down here in Geelong, he gave us a call (on Monday afternoon) to (footy boss) Paul Whyte to commit to our footy club,” Grovedale coach Jake Spolding said.

“Obviously he has Geelong VFL commitments and inside and around that he will be involved, which is great for us as a footy club. We are really excited to have him on board.”

Nathan Kreuger shoots at goal this season for Collingwood. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The 25-year-old is unlikely to be available for most of the Geelong league season due to his VFL commitments, with Kreuger expected to be the focal point of the Cats’ line-up.

But he will be a massive addition if he is able to play for the Tigers, who finished ninth in the 12-team competition.

Kreuger’s biggest contribution will likely come in a coaching capacity.

“That was one of the main reasons that we spoke to Nathan, was about the connection to the local footy club. Obviously he is an SA boy, the connection with his partner, with her sister playing in our women’s program,” Spolding said.

He is really keen to invest in the coaching space, so he will have some areas of footy club working with certain players – whether it is in the women’s team, whether it is in the junior team, whether it is in the senior team, as much or as little as he wants.

“I think he will add great flexibility if he does happen to play for us. He can play at either end as a key defender/key forward, he can probably realistically play as an on-baller as well the way he moves and the size of him.”

Kreuger will return to where his AFL career began in 2025, playing two games in three years on Geelong’s list from 2019-21 being traded to Collingwood.

He played another 13 AFL games across an injury-riddled three seasons at Collingwood before being cut in October.

Originally published as Former Collingwood forward Nathan Kreuger signs with Grovedale in Geelong league