Max Kruse (born 29 October 1958) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with the South Melbourne/Sydney in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). Kruse was named after his father, Max Kruse, a former

Prahran Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...

ruckman who represented the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

at the

1953 Adelaide Carnival The 1953 Adelaide Carnival was the 12th edition of the Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian football interstate competition. It took place from 8 to 18 July at Adelaide Oval. Home state South Australia was joined by the two Vict ...

. Kruse senior was appointed coach of New South Wales club Leeton in 1957 and his son was born the following year. In 1978, Kruse kicked 52 goals for Leeton, playing mainly from centre half forward and finished third in the league medal, the Gammage Medal, on 16 votes. He played in their 1978 premiership when Leeton defeated Turvey Park in the SWDFL grand final. A

centre half-forward In Australian rules football, the centre half-forward is a position on the half-forward line of a football field. The directly opposing player is a centre half-back. Royce Hart of the Richmond Football Club and Wayne Carey of the North Melbou ...

centre half-back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-bac ...

, Kruse joined South Melbourne in 1979 and played eight games that year, all from round 13. He made another nine appearances in 1980, then from 1981 to 1984 put together 53 consecutive games. A thigh injury in 1985 kept him out of the league team for much of the year and he played only three games. It would be Kruse's final season with the Swans, he then spent four years with Glenelg from 1986 to 1989, after moving to South Australia for business reasons. He was a member of Glenelg's 1986 premiership team.

References

Links

1978 - SWDFL Premiers: Leeton FC team photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruse, Max 1958 births Living people Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Sydney Swans players Glenelg Football Club players New South Wales Australian rules football State of Origin players People from Leeton, New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen