HE is well aware of the threat that Penrith's halves will pose in Saturday night's NRL clash at Carrington Park, but Melbourne Storm halfback Brodie Croft is ready to inspire as well.
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When the 21-year-old runs out onto the turf in Bathurst it will mark just his 20th appearance in the top flight, but his performances over the the opening two rounds of 2019 indicate he feels at home in Storm's number seven jumper.
He has certainly had to work hard at it since being thrust into the role following the departure of Cooper Cronk and has spent time back with feeder club Easts Tigers, but Croft now has the confidence to go with his talent.
"I'm real confident with my position in the team, now it's just backing myself and executing on the back of that," he said.
"I've been solid [this season] I reckon, personally I'm happy I've been getting my job done for the team. Like I did at the back end of last season, keeping it simple, not trying to over-play my hand, then if opportunities come to put something on, taking those opportunities with both hands."
One area which Croft has put a particular emphasis on early in 2019 has been his kicking game. He has so far averaged more than 100 metres per game this year than he did last season.
It's part of his desire to become a more consistently strong performer.
"That's something I've repped out over the pre-season. I've done thousands of kicks over the pre-season, so yeah, it's nice to get some results," he said.
"Craig [Bellamy, coach] told us that a lot of the younger boys had to step up this year and that he really wanted us to train hard to get us ready for a real slog for the whole season."
His kicking game will be important come Saturday night as he and his Storm team-mates look at add to their victories over the Broncos and Raiders to start 2019.
Storm has won 17 of its past 19 games against the Panthers, but with the talented halves combination James Maloney and Nathan Cleary to steer Penrith, Croft knows the battle at Carrington Park will be tough.
"They're really good players those halves, they're origin halves for New South Wales, won an origin series, so it's a big challenge and I'm looking forward to it," he said.
"They're a really aggressive, strong team and they're going to be throwing everything they've got at us this weekend.
"It's a good away game for us this week at Bathurst, they perform really well there, so we'll have to be on our game, our best game, for it."
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Croft admitted he has been impressed with what his Panther opposite Cleary, who is also 21, has done since making his NRL debut in June, 2016.
In 2017 Cleary became the youngest ever player to score 200 points in a season and last year helped guide the NSW Blues to a State of Origin series win. But the challenge of squaring off against him is something the Storm playmaker is looking forward to.
"He's a really strong-minded player I'd say and I've definitely taken a few things out of his game that I can implement into my game. He just does it week-in, week-out, he's a real consistent player, so I'm really looking forward to the challenge of versing him this week," he said.
Kick-off is at 7.35pm on Saturday.
