Pressure on Croker after Hodgson promoted to Raiders co-captaincy

Ricky Stuart says his decision to appoint co-captains at the Raiders is meant to put more pressure on centre Jarrod Croker.

Croker has been paired with hooker Josh Hodgson as joint leaders for the 2019 Telstra Premiership season after flying solo for the past four years.

Croker, 28, is entering rarefied air once again for his beloved ‘Green Machine’.

After passing Laurie Daley for most games for Canberra, Mal Meninga and David Furner for most points all time, and Clint Schifcofske for most points in a season, Croker (114) is poised to leapfrog Jason Croker (120) for most tries for the club.

More broadly he is shaping up to break records across the NRL.

Perhaps the most impressive of those feats is Croker being on the verge of becoming the first player under 30 to score 2000 points.

Having a lot of eyes on him in 2019 could be a viable reason to share the load of being club co-captain with Hodgson. But Stuart dismisses the notion that sharing the captaincy with the English international will ease expectations.

"The one thing Jarrod can handle is pressure. I've seen that over and over again," Stuart told NRL.com.

"Jarrod is the reason we were in so many games when we were defending poorly, because he keeps us above water by knowing what to do.

"So he can handle pressure and I've actually increased it on him this year by expecting more from our leaders, stepping up the focus on leadership immensely.

"I've taken a number of people aside and we're doing a lot of work with them on the major responsibilities they face.

"I don't believe this club can go any further forward without a stronger leadership."

Again, that could be misconstrued as Croker not doing his job properly.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Stuart said.

"I've been really happy with Jarrod's progress; his integrity; he's a local product; he's just so 'Green' – he's a Raider.

"But we needed to lift in leadership this year, and that's got nothing to do with Jarrod.

"Both on the field and off the field we've taken a major focus toward our leadership.

"And having a guy, who I think has the ability to captain his country, in Josh Hodgson sitting in the wings, it was silly not to be able to use his abilities as a leader during our season."

Croker skippered the Raiders in the final three games of the 2014 season, taking over from Terry Campese. He captained the club over the past four seasons before Stuart's decision to elevate Hodgson into a co-captaincy role.

Stuart's reasons for reverting back to joint captains lie in wanting to keep his foot firmly on the throat of everyone at the club - not solely the players - as they push for success.

"I need both Jarrod and Josh around the whole business of the club," Stuart said.

"I can only see good things with having two captains."