With his choir boy looks, Melbourne's rookie halfback Brodie Croft is about as far from an NRL hard man as you can get.
But ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium, Croft has proven he can match it with the big boys in defence as well as attack.
The 21-year-old, who weighs 86kg, regularly lines up with the Storm forwards for tackling practice at training, hardening himself for the contest.
The mismatch sometimes puts Melbourne assistant coach Jason Ryles on edge.
"When we do our tackling he'll jump in with the bigger boys and really test himself," Ryles said.
"Sometimes I'll look over and think 'Can he keep taking that sort of punishment?' But he keeps putting himself through it."
Croft started the season as the first-choice to replace the departing Cooper Cronk but found himself axed after five rounds.
But through his hard work in their Queensland Cup team he forced his way back in to lead the finals charge.
Ryles said Croft's unswerving commitment to improving and bravery set him apart from many other players.
"The main thing for Brodie, his commitment and desire to want to play NRL, to want to put his head into places some blokes don't want to put their head, I think that's his biggest attribute," Ryles said.
Croft's teammate and housemate Curtis Scott said he'd seen his mate mature through the season and the result was a calmer player on the field.
"There was a lot of expectations going into the season and he probably didn't go as good as everyone thought he would," Scott said.
"Everyone was referring to him as a Cooper Cronk clone and that's pretty daunting on the kid.
"I thought he handled going back (to Queensland Cup) really well. He wasn't kicking stones, he just kept knocking on the door and talking to Craig (coach Craig Bellamy) about what he had to do to get back in the side and now here he is.
"He has been more calmer, isn't getting as rattled as he did at the start of the year."
