09 February 2023 , 22:39
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Man of Steel Brodie Croft is ready to live up to his ‘marquee’ billing - and even do the coffee run for the next eight years.
The Australian stand-off, 25, grabbed headlines this week by turning down NRL offers to sign a lucrative, bumper contract with Salford until the end of 2030. And Croft is already getting stick from his Red Devils team-mates about now being made of money. But he insisted: “I wouldn’t want it any other way. The banter with the boys is good.
“Apparently I owe team coffees for the next eight years! But I love this club. It’s great to get the deal done and now I’m just really excited we can move forward together at Salford. I truly believe we can win things."
The eight-year deal is thought to be the longest in Super League history and Croft becomes a ‘marquee’ player meaning he earns at least £175,000 per season. He insists he can live with the extra pressure that brings. Croft said: “I’m not naive enough to think that there’s not going to be external noise with that. But it’s not really my place to worry about that. People get paid for opinions, players get paid to play and coaches get paid to coach.
"I see it that way; it’s my job to go out there and do my job week in week out and train well in each training session. The coaches hold me accountable. I hold myself accountable and that’s the standards I expect and this season will be no different.”
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And Croft is excited about building on the success of his brilliant first season at Salford when he helped fire them to the semi-finals of both Super League and the Challenge Cup. He added: “It’s a weight off the shoulders now. Negotiations had been going on for a couple of months.
Salford's Brodie Croft, left, with Warrington's Josh McGuire at the Betfred Super League launch (Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com) (Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com)“I appreciate that with such a contract as this it won't happen overnight. But now it’s done, my head's in a really good space for the season ahead and I’m looking forward to what the future holds. When I first heard about it (length of contract) it did catch me off guard a bit. But the stability of that and what it provides for my family, and the confidence the club has put me in offering me a contract of that length, gives me a lot of confidence as well going forward.
“Along with this group of boys that I love playing with and going to work with every day, I weighed it all up and this is what I wanted. I do truly think we can go on and win things. That’s what I want to do with Salford. I think we’re capable of something special. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have signed.”