Manly's Croker enjoying life at No.9

Manly hooker Lachlan Croker has given up his life as a playmaker to settle down in the middle for good after deciding he now wants to be a full-time No.9. Flung into dummy-half amid Manly's hooker crisis over the past 18 months, Croker has quickly gone from a makeshift rake to a man at home in the ruck. A teenage gun in the halves with a famous Canberra last name, Croker joined Manly in 2018 with the eye to be their first-choice five-eighth outside Daly Cherry-Evans. But injuries have consistently let him down, before he backed down on a childhood dream of leading a team at No.7 and instead doing the hard work in the middle. "I've put the No.6 and No.7 away, I don't see myself going back there any more," Croker told AAP. "Probably halfway through last year when I was coming off the bench and then sort of flipping and flopping between half and hooker. "The first couple of weeks I didn't really enjoy it that much. And then the more I played it, the more I enjoyed what I was about and what I got to do in there. "And I thought I've had enough of half, I just want to stay in the middle." Croker is looking more at home in the position after telling Des Hasler of his preferred switch in the off-season.