Departing Canberra Raiders captain Terry Campese has endorsed good mate Jarrod Croker as the club's new skipper, encouraging him to lead with confidence despite being the youngest captain in the club's history.
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Former captain Alan Tongue also backed Croker to excel in the position, predicting the 24-year-old "could go down as one of the greatest-ever Raiders".
Campese's departure for UK Super League club the Hull Kingston Rovers created the need for a new captain, and Campese rang Croker on Friday to say the club had picked the right man for the job.
"I just congratulated him, told him he was the guy I would have given the captaincy to and to be confident," Campese said.
"It probably has come sooner than he expected, but he leads on and off the field, he never gets injured. He's already breaking records left, right and centre. It is a position that takes a while to get used to, but I think you'll see him grow in confidence and then excel."
Croker took Campese's spot as interim captain late in the season when Campese was dropped to NSW Cup, leading Canberra to three successive victories to finish the year.
But Croker had been reluctant to talk too much about his long-term ambition for the role, given his friendship with Campese.
"He might have felt uncomfortable, knowing we're good mates," Campese said. "I guess it would have been hard to talk about.
"It's every footballer's dream to captain their club, I know he'll do a good job, grab it with both hands and do the club proud.
"It's always good when the captain is someone from the local area, I think that makes it even more special. He's just signed a long deal [to 2018], he's a local boy from Goulburn, and it's great to see to see the club turn to someone as passionate for the club as Crokes is."
Croker, just 24, has already notched 140 NRL games and sits third on the all-time point-scoring list for the Raiders, behind only Clinton Schifcofske and David Furner.
Despite a career-best individual season in 2014, when he was crowned Mal Meninga medallist, Tongue believes responsibility will make Croker even better.
"His list of achievements keeps going on, he could go down as one of the greatest-ever Raiders, the amount of games he's played and what he's done at such a young age," Tongue said. "I think he's on the cusp of playing his best footy, he's at that prime age and this responsibility could spur him on to bigger and better things."
"He seems such a relaxed customer, it shows in his goalkicking, the way he communicates. I think this will be really good for him, I think he'll handle it well."
"He is Canberra Raiders. They've given the captaincy to a young guy who lives and breathes the culture they're trying to develop, it's a great show of respect and it's looking towards the future."
