Jarrod Croker
Jarrod Keith Croker is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who is the captain and goal-kicking for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL.
He has played his entire career to date with the Canberra, with whom he became the 2012, 2015 and 2016 top point-scorer. Croker is a Country Origin, Prime Minister's XIII, NRL All Stars and World All Stars representative. In 2016, Croker won the Dally M Captain of the year award. Croker is the Canberra Raiders top try scorer and highest point-scorer in their history.
Background
Croker was born in Goulburn, New South Wales Australia. He is distantly related to former Canberra, NSW and Australia player Jason Croker.Croker played his junior football for the Goulburn Stockmen before signing with the Canberra Raiders.
Playing career
He played for the New South Wales Schoolboys and Australian Schoolboys representative teams in 2007 before being selected for the New South Wales under-18s in 2008. Croker was part of the Canberra team that won the inaugural National Youth Competition in 2008. He played at centre and was involved in the try that won the Raiders the match 28-24 in golden point extra time.2009
Croker broke into Canberra's first-grade side in 2009, making his debut in round 2 against the Sydney Roosters. In round 3, against the Parramatta Eels, Croker scored his first NRL try in the Raiders 16-18 loss at Parramatta Stadium. He went on to make 21 appearances in his rookie season, and was the Raiders highest try scorer with 12 tries. On 3 September, Croker re-signed with the Raiders to the end of the 2012 season.2010
Croker was again a regular in Canberra's 2010 side, making 25 appearances as Canberra finished 7th and made the NRL finals. However, it was a missed penalty goal from Croker that ended the Raiders' season. In a sudden-death finals match against the Wests Tigers, in front of a home crowd of 26,476, he pushed wide a 30-metre kick that would have tied the match at 26-26. Canberra's coach David Furner—himself a former Raiders goalkicker—defended Croker, arguing his goalkicking form had won a number of matches for the team during the season. Days later, Croker was selected for Australia's train-on squad for the Four Nations tournament. Croker played in all of the Raiders 26 matches and was the club's highest point scorer with 5 tries and 53 goals.2011
On 6 August, Croker re-signed with the Raiders until the end of the 2013 season. He finished the season as the Raiders highest point scorer with 9 tries and 53 goals in 23 matches.2012
Croker was the NRL's leading points scorer in 2012 with a total of 226 points, scoring 16 tries and kicking 81 goals in 25 matches.2013
In round 3, against the Roosters, Croker played his 100th NRL match in the Raiders 24-22 win, kicking the winning goal after scoring his second try in the final minutes of the match at Canberra Stadium. On 13 April, he re-signed with the Raiders to the end of the 2015 season. In round 25, against the New Zealand Warriors, Croker scored his first hat trick of tries and also scored all of the club's points in the Raiders 50-16 loss at Mt Smart Stadium. He finished the season as the Raiders highest point with 9 tries and 52 goals.2014
In February, Croker played in the Raiders Auckland Nines team. In round 24, against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Croker surpassed club legend Mal Meninga’s 864 club career points, taking him to third highest point scorer for the Raiders. He finished the year as the highest point scorer and try scorer for the Raiders, scoring 18 tries and scoring 202 points. On 5 September, Croker re-signed with the Raiders until the end of the 2018 season. He was named as the 2014 Meninga Medallist for Raiders’ best and fairest player.On 12 October, Croker played for the Prime Minister's XIII team against Papua New Guinea, filling in for Raiders teammate Jack Wighton on the interchange bench after he was a late scratching. On 19 December, Croker was named by coach Ricky Stuart as the new captain for the Canberra Raiders following the departure of Terry Campese to Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League.
2015
In the pre-season, Croker was captain of the Raiders Auckland Nines squad. On 13 February 2015, Croker played at centre for NRL All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars, kicking a goal in the 20-6 loss at Robina Stadium. On 3 May 2015, Croker played for Country Origin against City Origin, scoring a try in the 34-22 win at Wagga Wagga. In round 10, against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Croker played in 150th NRL match in the Raiders 32-18 loss at WIN Stadium. In round 13, against the Newcastle Knights, Croker notched a 1000 career points in the Raiders 44-22 win at Hunter Stadium. At the end of the season, Croker was the NRL's top point scorer with 236 points. On 26 September, Croker played for the Prime Minister's XIII against Papua New Guinea.2016
In February 2016, Croker was named in the Raiders 2016 NRL Auckland Nines squad. On 13 February 2016, Croker played for the World All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars, playing at centre in the 12-8 win at Suncorp Stadium. On 8 May 2016, Croker again represented Country Origin against City Origin, kicking 5 goals in the 44-30 loss in Tamworth. In Round 10 against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Croker became the highest ever point scorer for the Raiders in the 16-12 golden point loss at Jubilee Oval. At the end of the season, Croker picked up the Provan Summons award as well as Dally M Captain of the Year and season's leading point scorer in a year were the Raiders fell one game short of the Grand Final. Croker played in all of the Raiders 27 matches, scoring 18 tries and kicking 112 goals in the 2016 NRL season. After the season ended, Croker was named the Australia Four Nations train-on squad but later dropped out due to a knee injury.2017
On 10 February 2017, Croker played for the World All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars in the 2017 All Stars match, playing at centre in the 34-8 loss at Hunter Stadium. In Round 5 against the Parramatta Eels in the 30-18 win at Canberra Stadium, Croker became the third player to score 100 tries for Canberra, after Jason Croker and Brett Mullins, and the fifth player to score 100 tries and kick 500 goals in Australian first grade rugby league. He also became only the seventh player after Terry Lamb, Greg Alexander, Ryan Girdler, Hazem El Masri, Darren Lockyer and Luke Burt to score 100 tries and over 1,000 points for a single club. In Round 11 against the Parramatta Eels, Croker played his 200th NRL career match in the Raiders 22-16 win at ANZ Stadium. On 10 August 2017, Croker extended his contract with the Raiders to the end of the 2020 season. Croker finished the 2017 NRL season with him scoring 9 tries and kicking 77 goals for the Raiders.2018
In Round 18 against the North Queensland Cowboys, Croker suffered a season ending knee injury in the Raiders 38-12 win at Canberra Stadium. Croker finished the 2018 NRL season with him playing in 17 matches, scoring 7 and kicking 63 goals for the Raiders.2019
On 13 February 2019, after being the solo captain for the Raiders for the past 4 years, coach Ricky Stuart appointed hooker Josh Hodgson as co-captain alongside Croker for the season. Croker made his return from injury in Round 1 against the Gold Coast Titans, kicking 4 goals in the 21-0 win at Robina Stadium.In Round 17 against St George, Croker became Canberra's all-time leading try scorer with 120 tries surpassing Jason Croker in a 36-14 victory at WIN Stadium.
In Round 22 against Melbourne, Croker scored 2 tries as Canberra came from 18-0 down at halftime to win the match 22-18 at AAMI Park. It was the first time since 2015 that Melbourne had lost 2 games in a row at their home stadium.
Canberra finished the 2019 regular season in 4th place on the table and qualified for the finals. The club would then go on to qualify for their first grand final in 25 years. Croker captained Canberra in the 2019 NRL Grand Final as they were defeated 14-8 by the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium.