Jarrod Croker says he’d swap every personal record for an NRL title
Canberra skipper Jarrod Croker holds just about every individual point-scoring record at the Raiders, but the one-club great says he wouldn’t hesitate to trade them all for an NRL title.
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“Every one of them.”
That’s Canberra co-captain Jarrod Croker’s response when asked if he’d trade his impressive individual records for an elusive NRL premiership.
Croker is the Raiders’ all-time leading points-scorer and try-scorer and is on track to finish his career with the most points in the history of the game.
The 28-year-old hasn’t won a premiership but is one win away from his first grand final, with Canberra hosting South Sydney in a preliminary final on Friday night.
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Croker is playing his fourth finals series in the 10th year of his one-club career and is desperate to lead the Raiders to their first title since 1994.
“It would be special. It would be a dream come true for everyone but there are four teams left who are dreaming of the same thing,” Croker told AAP.
“It’s been a long time but we’ve got a big job ahead of us on Friday night so we’re looking nowhere past that.
“You want to be able to handle these big games and you need to be able to handle them, but the boys have been quite relaxed throughout the week to be honest.
“It’s about making sure we’re doing everything right physically and mentally away from training to prepare to play our best footy on Friday night.”
The centre admits after his first finals in 2010 he thought September football would be the norm, but it hasn’t been the case.
“The year after (2010) we didn’t play well at all, then in 2012 we made the finals and we were out again until 2016, so I probably took it for granted looking back on it,” Croker said.
“I probably thought it was going to happen more often than it has, so I certainly haven’t taken this season for granted.”
The Raiders are favourites this week in front of a record crowd in the first home preliminary final in club history.
They were also favourites for home elimination finals in 2010 and 2016 and lost both, but Croker believes there’s a different feeling amongst the group this year.
“We’re just confident and we’re getting our confidence off the back of our defence,” Croker said.
“We’re confident in our work ethic and our will to win and scramble for our teammates. This year just really working hard for each other.
“I know it sounds like a cliche but it’s genuinely hard work and scrambling for your mate that has saved us a handful of games throughout the year and in these big games that can be what it comes down to.”
Originally published as Jarrod Croker says he’d swap every personal record for an NRL title