Cooper Cronk has always been a hero to Brodie Croft but the Sydney Roosters halfback went up another notch with his incredulous NRL grand final performance against Melbourne.
With Cronk guiding Croft's development before leaving the Storm for the Roosters this season, the master and the apprentice went head to head on the big stage.
While young Croft held in own in the Storm's 21-6 losing outfit, he was in awe of Cronk, who steered the Roosters' ship with a broken shoulder.
"He was already certainly pretty high in my eyes but that was pretty inspiring, the way he got out there and did what he did for the team," the 21-year-old told AAP.
"He was struggling out there but he kept showing up and his experience was invaluable for them."
With only 17 NRL games under his belt Croft said that playing in his first grand final was intense.
He was satisfied with his showing in the face of some brutal Roosters defence, describing it as "in your face".
"It was everything I expected and more - the atmosphere was unreal and the Roosters' physicality and intensity was enormous," Croft said.
"I tried to keep it simple and focus on my kicking and running and my defence, getting my body in front, and I felt I did it as good as I could.
"I couldn't really do too much more."
While the grand final was the last match for retiring Storm superstar Billy Slater, and with veteran Ryan Hoffman also hanging up his boots, Croft hoped the team could continue to challenge for the title.
"To see the trophy up there and how close we got to it, it was pretty shattering," he said.
"We will go back to the drawing board and do all we can to get back here and be better for it."
