Super League: How Brodie Croft and Marc Sneyd aim to get Salford Red Devils rising | Rugby League News
Marc Sneyd and Brodie Croft are growing as a half-back partnership at Salford
As far as a rugby league education goes, Brodie Croft could hardly have asked for a better finishing school to go to.
As an up-and-coming half-back making his way in the NRL, the Queenslander’s classroom was the training ground at Melbourne Storm and among his tutors were players like Cameron Smith and Billy Slater – men renowned as among the finest players Australia has ever produced.
Unsurprisingly, those lessons from such highly regarded teachers have stuck with him and remain something the 24-year-old is applying now he is playing in the Super League with Salford Red Devils.
Salford Red Devils vs Leeds Rhinos
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“The professionalism and the way they go about their business is probably something I took from them and their leadership, especially the way Cam Smith talks,” Croft, who moved to these shores in the winter after two seasons with Brisbane Broncos, told Sky Sports.
“When he talks, everyone listens, and he is so clear and concise with what he wants and the direction they want their team to go in.
“That’s regardless of what minute it is in the game, and he could have made 50 tackles and be down to so much fatigue, but when he’s got a message to say to the boys, it’s so clear and everyone is on board with it.
“That’s something I try to embody in my games and I’m still growing as a player, but certainly the leadership and professionalism are two of the things I’ve brought across here.”
I’m still growing as a player, but certainly the leadership and professionalism are two of the things I’ve brought across here.
Brodie Croft
Those leadership skills will be a facet of Croft’s game Salford head coach Paul Rowley will undoubtedly be eager to harness. Indeed, it is an area he believes the team are currently lacking in since the side which memorably reached the 2019 Super League Grand Final has gradually broken up through players moving on or retiring.
Only last season’s leading try-scorer Ken Sio remains from the Red Devils 17 which were involved in that match at Old Trafford just over two years ago and Rowley knows from his own playing days the vital role those who lead by actions as well as words play.
“I think quite often the alpha male is in you as a DNA, so it’s hard to develop the purest leader, but we’re hoping some boys want to take that mantle,” Rowley told Sky Sports in his weekly press conference ahead of Friday’s Super League match against Leeds Rhinos.
“There are certainly some within the club, but you can definitely see people at other clubs who if you are poor in defence and get behind the sticks, you kind of know the characters who will be stood up and leading from their front, and their actions will lead, and their voice will lead.
Paul Rowley is looking for leaders to emerge from his Salford squad
“I’ve played in those teams and if we were defending poorly at my old club Halifax, I’d have Kelvin Skerrett and Karl Harrison who’d be giving us the rounds of the kitchen. They’d lead from the front and demand nothing less than body on the line and better quality.
“It’s hard one to put your finger on and it’s not easy, and that’s part of the progression and strategy the club needs to have in recruitment going forward.”
Part of Rowley’s overhaul at the AJ Bell Stadium since taking over from Richard Marshall in the off-season has seen him put in place a new half-back partnership, with Marc Sneyd returning to the club after eight years away with Castleford Tigers and Hull FC.
Sneyd and Croft have struck up a good rapport and have been growing their partnership even though results have not always gone Salford’s way so far, with back-to-back wins to open the 2022 campaign with followed by three straight losses.
It’s just having a good understanding of what the other players’ strengths are and just trying to get a really good understanding.
Marc Sneyd
But they acknowledge it will take time for that to flourish fully, as well as their links with full-back Ryan Brierley and their colleagues in the pack.
“Especially with someone like Brodie, it’s giving him freedom,” Sneyd told Sky Sports. “You can’t tie people into doing exactly what you want to do.
“I’ve got to bite the bullet now and again – he wants it for a reason, so give him the ball and vice versa. It’s just having a good understanding of what the other players’ strengths are and just trying to get a really good understanding.
“It works with everything – I’m still talking to Shane (Wright) in the back row on a weekly basis to get an understanding of what he wants and eventually those partnerships will click.”
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Highlights of the Super League match between Salford Red Devils and Hull Kingston Rovers
Friday’s Super League showdown with Leeds at the AJ Bell Stadium sees the Red Devils, who were beaten 26-16 by Hull Kingston Rovers last week, hosting a side which has just one win to its name so far after the Rhinos went down 31-8 to Hull FC in Round 5.
Plenty of eyes will be on the battle of the half-backs, with Sneyd and Croft up against the mercurial duo of Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer, although Rowley knows his pair will only be able to impose themselves if the forwards can lay the groundwork in terms of the territorial battle.
“You saw that in the earlier rounds with those two and Ryan out the back, but it’s been very difficult because we’ve had some serious lack of territory and so we’ve not been able to see them at their true worth,” Rowley said.
“Brodie in particular has been fantastic throughout, even in the tough games he’s been fantastic. “We’re probably seeing more what he’s about as a defender rather than a runner and an organiser, which is not bad a thing for a half-back.
“If our two or their two are having to play out of their own half all the time, the odds are stacked with the team which has the territory and possession. That’s where the true battle always lies.”
Watch Brodie Croft and Marc Sneyd in conversation with team-mate Ryan Brierley ahead of Friday’s Super League clash between Salford Red Devils and Leeds Rhinos from 7.30pm, live on Sky Sports Arena.
