Brodie Croft
Brodie Croft (born 14 July 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Salford Red Devils in the ESL. He previously played for the Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League. Croft will join the Salford Red Devils for the 2022 Super League season. Early life. Croft was born in Dalby, Queensland, Australia. He was educated at St. Joseph's College, Toowoomba and later Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane. He played his junior rugby league for the Highfields Eagles and was a member of the 2014 Churchie First  XV alongside Kalyn Ponga, and Jaydn Su'A before being signed by the Melbourne Storm. He played for the Toowoomba Clydesdales in the Cyril Connell Cup during 2013, before moving to Brisbane, to join the Eastern Suburbs Tigers in the Mal Meninga Cup. The following year, he was named 18th man for the Queensland under-18 rugby league team. Playing career. 2016. In 2016, Croft was named in the QAS under-20 squad and played for the Melbourne Storm's NYC team. On 22 May, he made his Queensland Cup debut with Melbourne's feeder team, the Easts Tigers, scoring a try in  their 52-20 win over the Ipswich Jets. In Round 15 of the 2016 season, he made his NRL debut for the Melbourne Storm against St. George Illawarra. On 13 July, he represented the Queensland under-20 rugby league team. 2017. Croft started the 2017 season by playing in the NRL Auckland Nines. He scored 3 tries and was named in the team of the tournament. In just his second NRL game, he slotted an extra-time field goal to secure victory over North Queensland and in doing so, Melbourne escaped with a 23-22 win in golden-point. On 24  July, he signed a contract extension with the Storm, tying him to the club for at least another three years with a view to replacing Cooper Cronk in the long-term as Melbourne's halfback. Croft was described by the media at the time as the next Cooper Cronk and was labelled a "Cooper Cronk clone". On 19 August, with Cronk rested, Croft scored a hat-trick and had two try assists in a 44-12 win over the Newcastle Knights in just his fifth NRL game. Despite this performance, he didn't feature in another NRL match for the  remainder of the season due to the return of Cronk, leading the NRL side to the 2017 NRL Grand Final victory. 2018. In February 2018, Croft staked his claim as Melbourne's new halfback. He scored a try and three try assists in a composed performance against Leeds in the 2018 World Club Challenge at AAMI Park. He played in the 2018 NRL Grand Final against the Sydney Roosters where Melbourne were beaten 21-6. 2019. After playing the first 21 games of the 2019 season at halfback, Croft was surprisingly dropped from the Melbourne line-up entirely, only playing  one more game in round 25 at five-eighth, and not making an appearance throughout the finals. In order to remain under the salary cap for 2020, Melbourne elected to release Croft from his contract, officially doing so on 29 November. That same day, he signed a three-year contract with the Brisbane Broncos. Croft was part of the Junior Kangaroos squad which played against France on 25 October. The match ended in a 62-4 Kangaroos victory. 2020. Croft endured a difficult first year in Brisbane and played 14 games for the club as they finished last on the  table and claimed the wooden spoon. 2021. In round 20 of the 2021 NRL season, Croft scored his first try of the season in a 37-18 thrashing of arch rivals North Queensland. On 9 August, Croft signed a two-year deal to join English side Salford. 2022. In round 1 of the 2022 Super League season, Croft made his club debut for Salford in their 26-16 victory over Castleford. Honours. Individual Club