Jarrod Croker

Jarrod Croker (born 11 September 1990) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a goal-kicking and captained the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League (NRL).

He played for the New South Wales Schoolboys and Australian Schoolboys representative teams in 2007 before being selected for the New South Wales under-18s in 2008.

Croker was part of the Canberra team that won the inaugural National Youth Competition in 2008.

He played at centre and was involved in the try that won the Raiders the match 28-24 in golden point extra time.

Croker broke into Canberra's first-grade side in 2009, making his debut in round 2 against the Sydney Roosters.

In round 3, against the Parramatta Eels, Croker scored his first NRL try in the Raiders 16-18 loss at Parramatta Stadium.

He went on to make 21 appearances in his rookie season, and was the Raiders highest try scorer with 12 tries.

Croker was again a regular in Canberra's 2010 side, making 25 appearances as Canberra finished 7th and made the NRL finals.

However, it was a missed penalty goal from Croker that ended the Raiders' season.

In a sudden-death finals match against the Wests Tigers, in front of a home crowd of 26,476, he pushed wide a 30-metre kick that would have tied the match at 26-26.

Canberra's coach David Furner—himself a former Raiders goalkicker—defended Croker, arguing his goalkicking form had won a number of matches for the team during the season.

Days later, Croker was selected for Australia's train-on squad for the Four Nations tournament.

Croker played in all of Canberra's 26 matches and was the club's highest point scorer with 5 tries and 53 goals.

In round 5, against the Sydney Roosters, Croker played his 100th NRL match in Canberra's 24-22 win, kicking the winning goal after scoring a try in the final minutes of the match at Canberra Stadium.

In round 10, against the St George Illawarra Dragons, Croker played in 150th NRL match in Canberra's 32-18 loss at WIN Stadium.

In round 13, against the Newcastle Knights, Croker notched a 1000 career points in Canberra's 44-22 win at Hunter Stadium.

At the end of the season, Croker was the NRL's top point scorer with 236 points.

Croker spent his entire career with Canberra, with whom he became the 2012, 2015 and 2016 top point-scorer in the NRL.

Croker is a Country Origin, Prime Minister's XIII, NRL All Stars and World All Stars representative.

On 3 September, Croker re-signed with the Raiders to the end of the 2012 season.

Croker was the NRL's leading points scorer in 2012 with a total of 226 points, scoring 16 tries and kicking 81 goals in 25 matches.

On 6 August, Croker re-signed with the capital club until the end of the 2013 season.

He finished the season as Canberra's highest point scorer with nine tries and 53 goals in 23 matches.

He was named as the 2014 Meninga Medallist for Raiders' best and fairest player.

On 12 October, Croker played for the Prime Minister's XIII team against Papua New Guinea, filling in for Raiders teammate Jack Wighton on the interchange bench after he was a late scratching.

On 19 December, Croker was named by coach Ricky Stuart as the new captain for the Canberra Raiders following the departure of Terry Campese to Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League.

In the pre-season, Croker was captain of the Raiders Auckland Nines squad.

On 13 April, he re-signed with the Canberra club to the end of the 2015 season.

In round 25, against the New Zealand Warriors, Croker scored his first hat-trick of tries and also scored all of the club's points in the Canberra clubs 50-16 loss at Mt Smart Stadium.

He finished the season as Canberra's highest point with nine tries and 52 goals.

In February, Croker played in the Raiders Auckland Nines team.

In round 24, against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Croker surpassed club legend Mal Meninga's 864 club career points, taking him to third highest point scorer for Canberra.

He finished the year as the highest point scorer and try scorer for the Canberra side, scoring 18 tries and scoring 202 points.

On 13 February 2015, Croker played at centre for NRL All Stars against the Indigenous All Stars, kicking a goal in the 20-6 loss at Robina Stadium.

On 3 May 2015, Croker played for Country Origin against City Origin, scoring a try in the 34-22 win at Wagga Wagga.

In 2016, Croker won the Dally M Captain of the year award.

Croker is the top try scorer and highest point-scorer in Canberra Raiders history.

Croker was born in Goulburn, New South Wales Australia.

Croker played his junior football for the Goulburn Stockmen before signing with the Canberra Raiders.

On 5 September, Croker re-signed with the Raiders until the end of the 2018 season.