#15 Nathan Kreuger

[BBHS]

Need 30 Goals from 4 forwards ideally. Would be great if he is one of them.

[mudlark]

If he plays his role, that's all we need, we shouldn't expect him to be a "star"

Checkers is a role player, not a star, and he's done OK so far.

Checkers could be a whole lot better if he stayed on his feet. Falls over and out of the contest nearly every time. If he does manage to mark the ball he is one of the most heart in mouth unreliable kicks we have ever had. If Krueger is any good, he may take his place or Johnston or Kelly. We have a lot of choices now and seniority hopefully will mean nothing.

[Macattacks]

He's got Buddy Franklins trunk and Peter Daicos legs, a centre of gravity that makes a Porsche blush

[magpieazza]

Im friggin excited about NK!!

[Piethagoras' Theorem]

A Gatorade ad?

[warburton lad]

All hail our Fitness Coach/leadership for the return of Nathan Kreuger to the playing field tomorrow in the VFL.

It is a hallmark of our season that all players who have returned from injury layoffs have done so in very good nick.

The re-emergence of this 198cm and 88kg forward/backman for tomorrow's VFL elimination final is extremely heartening to the playing list- he is a popular and respected clubman at Magpieland.

I have every confidence that players who suffer injury at Collingwood these days are getting outstanding rehab programmes that allow them to return in the peak of conditioning.

I doubt that Kreuger (or Dean, or McInnes or Wilson) will feature in the coming AFL finals campaign, but they will no doubt be cherry ripe for day one of the 2023 pre-season.

Jock McHale famously never selected a player who was not right physically- I do not expect Taylor Adams to play against the rampaging Cats if he is not 100%.

One gets the sense that McRae believes in the creed of going to 'the next best' when one of his troops is unavailable.

Congratulations to the club on getting our medical room so right.

Floreat Pica.

[think better]

I reckon the fitness team have been exceptional. Along with Krueger's return, Elliot came back fairly quickly and look how he has gone. We have had very few soft tissue injuries too

[stui magpie]

Great point, we've been used to having soft tissue injuries, this year most IIRC have been mainly contact injuries

[Pies2016]

I have been banging on about how good the sports science team have been all season. They are a big reason for both a favourable injury profile and our ability to come from behind in close games.
Their best effort was bringing Murphy back in career best form after a three month lay off from ankle surgery.
I’ve googled a bit on Jarrod Wade and one of his mantras is to have the players come back into the team in better overall physical shape than before the injury. Apparently during any lengthy rehab, he trains them to within an inch of their lives but separates the injury area as a concentrated rehab program. Ie if you have an upper body injury, you are designed to come back stronger in the legs than before the injury. That’s a very different preparation than focussing on the injury but having other aspects of your preparation fall away during that lay off.
Wade recently cited McInnes shoulder reco as an example of personal best running and speed numbers on the back of an increased work load to his legs while rehabbing his shoulder. I don’t think the methodology is ground breaking but I’m sure like anything, there are some who just do it better than others.

[Jezza]

Our fitness and conditioning staff deserve to be praised. They've done an outstanding job with the playing group.

Great to see Kreuger named in the VFL side for Sunday's elimination final against Carlton.

[lazzadesilva]

I reckon the fitness team have been exceptional. Along with Krueger's return, Elliot came back fairly quickly and look how he has gone

For the above reasons I can see Adams coming back for the Geelong game.

[Magpietothemax]

Agree totally with all of the above contributions. It has been just so exhilarating to see how well conditioned our players return from rehab and injury. We can be confident that whenever a player returns after an absence, he is absolutely right to go.
Moreover, as Stui observes, there have been very few soft tissue injuries this year. most have been contact issues on the day.
Our injury management/rehab programs have been transformed clearly to a level now of AFL best practice, something which it seems we have been lacking for a long time.
Clearly, we did our research last year: first selecting Fly and his assistant coaches, and then appointing Jared Wade.
If Tay Adams is selected against Geelong, we can rest assured that it is because he is right to go.
He won't be selected if he is not.
I just have so much confidence with our coaches, selectors and sports scientists.
Jared Wade clearly is a gun.

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Exactly Adams and Kruger will be cherry ripe come finals next week.

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

Looked alright out there today, aggressive as always, will be better for the run and will always give you a contest...when uninjured

[thesoretoothsayer]

Looked alright out there today, aggressive as always, will be better for the run and will always give you a contest...when uninjured

KruegerKazi took a big hit in the 2nd Qtr. and was with the trainers for a couple of minutes.
Brave player but it's no use having Gavin Brown's courage if you've got Sean Rusling's body.