Jarrod Croker expects the Canberra Raiders vice-captaincy will bring out the best in Jamal Fogarty.
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Croker joined the Raiders coaching staff on Tuesday, where he'll look after the outside backs and goalkicking - not just for the NRL squad, but the junior grades as well.
The 307-game Raiders great also announced SG Ball player Mitchell Brophy as the inaugural recipient of the Jarrod Croker Scholarship.
Croker will use all of that experience to not only help the Raiders' current stars, but their future ones as well.
He's the club's all-time leading point and try scorer, and was third highest point scorer across the NRL behind Cameron Smith and Hazem El Masri.
His 307 games was the second most for the Green Machine, with only Jason Croker (318) ahead of him.
The 33-year-old retired last year, but has only had a couple of months off before getting back to work.
Part of that will be working with the likes of Fogarty on his goalkicking.
Croker said it was too early in his coaching journey to say whether he had ambitions to become a head coach - he just wanted to be around the club.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart named Fogarty vice-captain to Elliott Whitehead for the 2024 NRL season.
Croker, who co-captained with Whitehead last year, felt the move would be a good one for the halfback and the Green Machine.
He didn't think Fogarty would need too much help with his goalkicking - he's got a career accuracy of 78.3 per cent.
"You don't to come in there and completely change him - I just want to keep him in a clear head space," Croker said.
"He's obviously got that vice-captaincy role now and I think that's just going to help his game.
"It will probably make him a little bit calmer and that's all it needs to be when it comes to kicking.
"I think [him as vice-captain] is the logical one.
"Elliott ... is probably not always going to be on the field. It just seems logical to have a half do that vice-captaincy role.
"Bar something going wrong with injury Jamal's going to be on the field."
Croker said the Raiders will have plenty of options in the centres, with both Matt Timoko and Sebastian Kris as obvious candidates.
Kris is suspended for the Raiders' round-one clash against the Newcastle Knights on March 7, but Croker said there were a few other options as well.
"Obviously Matty Timoko's had a breakout year - I'm looking forward to seeing him with another pre-season under his belt," he said.
"Sebby's doing a bit at fullback and a bit at centre as well.
"[Ethan Strange] can play a bit of six and a bit of centre. James Schiller's been doing a bit in the centres as well.
"There's plenty of young talent there ... I'm sure those boys are fighting pretty hard for positions."
Croker's scholarship was to help a young, local male player - similar to the Katrina Fanning Scholarship for female players.
It's the third scholarship awarded through the Raiders Foundation, with the Don Furner snr Scholarship the other one.
Seventeen-year-old Brophy was only slightly older than Croker's NRL playing career.
He's been a player the hooker has looked up to since he started playing rugby league about a decade ago.
The Erindale College student's combining year 12 with his first season of SG Ball.
"He's been an inspiration of mine ever since I started watching footy and having this opportunity come up to get support from him and the Raiders is just too good to turn down," Brophy said.
"He was my favourite player growing up. He's always been an inspiration to me."