BIO: Grant Kruger was born in Sydney (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Murwillumbah basketball program. Kruger received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1987. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (1987, 1988).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Grant Kruger made his NBL debut with the Newcastle Falcons at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In 1996 Kruger averaged 5.8 points and 2.7 rebounds for the Townsville Suns who struggled to remain competitive and finished the regular season with a 9-17 record.

Townsville had not reached the playoffs during its first six seasons in the league but In 1997, the team came ‘oh so close’ to removing the monkey from their back. Needing only one win from their final six games to ensure a historic playoff appearance, the Suns went 0–6 after centre Clarence Tyson suffered a season-ending knee injury in Canberra. Kruger would average 6.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 0.7 assists for the season and the team finished in eighth place with a record of 14-16.

1998 saw Kruger average 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds and play a key role in helping the Crocodiles to a ninth-place finish during the regular season with a 12-18 record.

The 2000/01 season marked history for the Hawks as they won their maiden NBL Championship. Prior to the start of the season, coach Brendan Joyce changed almost half his roster, adding Kruger, Charles Thomas, Damon Lowery, Matt Shanahan and Axel Dench. Kruger would average 1.9 points that season, playing the role of “enforcer” behind Melvin Thomas and Matt Garrison.

After finishing the regular season in fourth with a club-best 21 wins from 28 games, Wollongong upset Perth in game one of the Qualifying Final to win at home 97–90. Kruger played 19 minutes but failed to score. The Wildcats turned things around in game two and defeated the Hawks 95-106. Kruger played 11 minutes and some terrific defence but again failed to score. This set up a game three in Perth where the Hawks won in a major upset thanks to a 26 point, 16 rebounds performance from Glen Saville and a 20 point game from Damon Lowery to win 98–88. Kruger played 12 minutes and scored two points in the win.

This set up a semi-final matchup with the Adelaide 36ers and their stars Darnell Mee and Kevin Brooks. Kruger played 11 minutes In game one, was instrumental on defence but did not score a basket yet the Hawks squeaked out a narrow 84-83 game win over the 36ers. The Hawks would return to Wollongong but lose Game 2, 100–111 Kruger added two points and three rebounds, and then in the deciding game the Hawks won game three in a nail biter at Wollongong’s WIN Entertainment Centre when Damon Lowery sunk three free throws with no time on the clock, propelling the team into the 2001 NBL Grand Final to face the Townsville Crocodiles.

There the Hawks would win game one against the Townsville Crocodiles at home 104-101, lose game two 97-114 and the set-up a deciding game for the 2001 championship. game three was a gruelling matchup, played the very next day where the blue-collar Hawks snuck out the three-point victory 97-94, Charles Thomas top scoring with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. Glen Saville would add 18 points and 12 rebounds, and claim the NBL Finals MVP. Kruger played in all three Grand Final games but received minimal playing time taking the court for a total of 13 minutes over the series. The Hawks 2–1 victory saw them become the first New South Wales club to win a NBL championship.

Grant Kruger played fifteen seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Newcastle Falcons, Townsville Suns, Wollongong Hawks, Cairns Taipans and Townsville Crocodiles. He averaged 5.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 368 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.