Brodie Croft has joined the Red Devils aiming to revitalise his career after a couple of tough seasons with Brisbane Broncos, moving to an area of the country which has previously embraced exciting, attacking overseas athletes seeking to do likewise
Sunday 6 February 2022 20:14, UK
Manchester United fans will need no reminding that this year marks 30 years since a flamboyant but temperamental forward by the name of Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona first walked through the doors of Old Trafford.
There was perhaps no other club which was able to better harness the undoubted skills of Cantona, who had moved to England with Leeds United 10 months earlier to rebuild his career after controversy seemed to follow him everywhere in France. He went on to helpe them become the dominant team in the early years of the Premier League era.
Around four miles away from United's home at the AJ Bell Stadium, their rugby league-playing cousins Salford Red Devils have enjoyed success harnessing the maverick talent - albeit with a far less chequered disciplinary past - of a player moving overseas searching for a new start in Jackson Hastings, now back in Australia with NRL side Wests Tigers after a spell with Wigan Warriors.
And, with the 2022 Betfred Super League season just around the corner, the Red Devils have recruited another in the form of Brodie Croft, at one time pegged as the next big thing in the Australian game after bursting onto the scene at Melbourne Storm as a 19-year-old but having more recently had two difficult years with Brisbane Broncos.
"It was a bit of everything," Croft said as to why he has decided now was the point to move to Super League. "I still had a year left to run on my contract at Brisbane and things were kind of floating around a bit.
"I just wanted a bit more clarity and what Salford had to offer here, the direction they want to go with the club followed the way I want to go. They put a lot of confidence in me and I felt career-wise it was a good move for me at this stage.
"I'm still young and I feel I've got a lot to learn, but I feel like I've got a lot to give as well and that gives me confidence, having that accountability with a bit more leadership."
Croft is all too aware he will be compared with Hastings, winner of Super League's Man of Steel award in 2019 for his instrumental role in helping Salford reach a maiden Grand Final against the odds, but he shrugs those off and is determined to make his own mark at the club.
The 24-year-old has already impressed Red Devils head coach Paul Rowley, also preparing for his first season in charge at the AJ Bell Stadium, during pre-season and the former Leigh Centurions and Toronto Wolfpack boss has noticed plenty of traits his new half-back has picked up from being around some modern-day greats at Melbourne.
"What he brings is absolute, 100 per cent professionalism, determination and eagerness," Rowley said.
"He's come through the Melbourne system with some of the greats like Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith - so you can't go through that system and not pick up something that's going to be advantageous to the people you play around and the coaches.
I love to take the line on, I love running, a few kicks here and there, and tip a few guys on the head if I can defensively - that will get the crowd on their feet.
"He's still got a lot to learn himself, but he's so coachable it's untrue. He wants to better himself at all times and his standards are sky-high."
Croft's talent has long stood out, including in his school days when he combined his league ambitions with playing rugby union for the Anglican Church Grammar School first XV in Brisbane alongside fellow future NRL stars Jaydn Su'A and Kalyn Ponga.
Signed by the Storm as a junior and making his NRL debut for them in 2017, the former Junior Kangaroos international was expected to be the long-term replacement for Cronk, but was released for salary cap reasons at the end of 2019 and joined the Broncos on a three-year contract.
However, the 2020 season saw Brisbane fail to match the high expectations on them, finishing bottom of the NRL table, and last August Croft decided to put pen to paper on a two-year deal with Salford.
He joins a club which struggled in 2021 too and finished 11th in Super League, resulting in the departure of head coach Richard Marshall after just one season in charge, but Croft is determined to do his bit to help drag them back up the table using the lessons from his Melbourne days.
"It's not only how they do it for themselves, but how they want to progress the team as a whole," Croft said, reflecting on what he learned from the icons he was playing alongside. "It's all good being the best player you can be, but if you're the best player on a losing team, your team is going nowhere.
"One from Cam Smith I've always looked fondly on is the way he speaks to the group. He's just always so concise and clear with the message he delivers to the boys and how they want to respond to it.
"His communication and leadership was something I really admired and something I want to learn myself and keep evolving in my games, and hopefully I can bring that to Salford."
Croft, who will form a half-back partnership with the returning Marc Sneyd at Salford in 2002, has already shown glimpses of what he can do in the pre-season wins over Championship sides Swinton Lions and Halifax Panthers.
There will be plenty of eyes on him in the Red Devils' Super League opener away to Castleford Tigers on Friday evening too and he has left fans in no doubt about what they can expect from him this season.
"Hopefully some exciting attack," Croft said. "I love attacking, so hopefully I can spark up my attack game.
"I love to take the line on, I love running, a few kicks here and there, and tip a few guys on the head if I can defensively - that will get the crowd on their feet."
Not too different then, you might say, to a certain French footballer who wowed the crowds just down the road all those years ago.
Sky Sports will again be broadcasting extensive live coverage of the Betfred Super League in 2022, including 25 games between February and April, Magic Weekend and the Grand Final. Watch reigning champions St Helens and Catalans Dragons face off in a rematch of last year's Grand Final in the season opener on Thursday, February 10.
