Leeds Rhinos ace Brodie Croft talks top try target, dominant pack and huge Wakefield Trinity derby
If he finishes the year as Super League’s top try scorer, Leeds Rhinos stand-off Brodie Croft says his teammates will deserve all the credit.
With six rounds remaining, only Leeds winger Maika Sivo, on 29, has surpassed Croft’s tally of 24 tries in the competition, which is two ahead of Josh Charnley (Leigh Leopards) and Zach Eckersley (Wigan Warriors). Sivo is currently sidelined by a broken arm and not expected back until the final regular-season fixture, so Croft has a real chance of overtaking him before the end of the year.
Croft’s tries have been scored in just 21 games, which is a remarkable achievement considering his previous best was eight for Rhinos two years ago and he had managed 15 in 51 Leeds appearances before the year.
“Hopefully I’ll just keep chipping away,” Croft said of how many tries he could reach in 2026. “It’s unfortunate Sivo’s out because I was cheering him on to break the overall record of Super League tries [40, by Castleford Tigers’ Denny Solomona 10 years ago]. It has given me a chance now to sneak up on him.”
But Croft, who will join Warrington Wolves next year, stressed: “I just keep playing on the back of this team we’ve got. You go through the tries I’ve scored and a lot of them have been on the back of our forwards being physical and getting offloads.
“I am just the one to score on the end of those. The boys have really been setting the platform and I’ve been picking my moments on the back of that. The team have been playing well, our forward pack have been so dominant and physical and the rule changes this year have opened up the game as well and helped players like myself and Lachie [Miller]. Jake [Connor] is controlling things on the back of that, I think everyone knows their roles in this team and they’re all doing their job.”
Croft was among the scorers when Rhinos beat Toulouse Olympique 46-0 at AMT Headingley last Friday. Despite the one-sided scoreline, he eckons that game was good preparation for tomorrow’s (Friday) crunch second versus first fixture at Wakefield Trinity.
“They played some really physical football and we had to match it and stay strong ourselves,” he said of the French visitors. “I thought, to our credit, we had an almost 80-minute performance, which we are really pleased with and proud of.
“To keep them to nil was really pleasing. Brad [Arthur, Rhinos’ coach] spoke about it before the match, asking for extra effort from everyone and whatever it takes. Not that we put an emphasis on the zero, but we want to pride ourselves on our defence and being relentless with that.”
Croft added: “Pretty much every team we’ve played this year has shown up for large parts of the match and Toulouse were no different. They were strong and physical and they’ve shown some really good results over the last month so they are a team not to be taken lightly. That’s something we didn’t do and it was really pleasing to get an overall performance like that.”
Looking ahead, Croft, who was unavailable because of injury when Rhinos were knocked out of the Challenge Cup at Wakefield five months ago, made no attempt to play down the significance of Friday’s derby. “It’s no secret it’s a big game,” he stated.
“Wakey have been playing good footy all season, it will be a great occasion and they are going to be up for it so we have to be as well. I can’t wait, they are the sort of games you want to play for.”