Starring in his first match as Cooper Cronk's full-time replacement, new Melbourne halfback Brodie Croft's next challenge is to deliver the same every week according to Storm skipper Cameron Smith.
With Cronk shifting to the Sydney Roosters after 14 years in the Storm's No.7 jersey, Croft made the most of his first opportunity with a dominant performance in Melbourne's 38-4 World Club Challenge win over Leeds.
The 20-year-old scored a first half try and had a hand in five others in an accomplished display in the spotlight, which is only his sixth top level match.
Used to playing alongside ultra-consistent Cronk, Smith said Croft needed to try to also maintain that standard.
"I thought he was very good given this is the biggest game he's played in," Smith said.
"He's played in a few NRL matches but this is a big occasion for him and he handled it well.
"The challenge for him now is to be able to produce that every week once the season starts."
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said he expected the prodigious Croft to perform well, given he'd been under the tutelage of Cronk since his arrival at the club as an under 20s player in 2016.
He said the team weren't looking for him to replicate Cronk but for Croft to put his own touch on the game.
"I thought he did a tremendous job," Bellamy said.
"We know he's a talented young fella and we don't expect him to be a Cooper Cronk we just expect him to do real good job Brodie Croft-style.
"It's a very promising start as our starting halfback."
The coach was delighted with the team's showing given it was their first run of the year with a full-strength line-up.
"We started a bit scrappy but I thought our completions in the first half were really good and we did a great job defensively," Bellamy said.
"Sometimes it's hard to get a gauge of where you're at at this time of the season but I really liked what I saw."
