Melbourne Storm halfback Cooper Cronk has carried a heavy workload for the past week but finished all smiles with two big victories.
Weary Melbourne Storm halfback Cooper Cronk isn't prepared to lighten his load despite his side crushing their nearest NRL ladder rivals Brisbane on Friday night.
Cronk played 80 minutes in Queensland's opening State of Origin victory on Wednesday and then backed up to help steer Melbourne to a 34-10 romp over the second-placed Broncos.
In the past Cronk has come off the bench for the Maroons so two heavy-duty games in the space of 48 hours was a new experience.
But the 28-year-old was in fine form, playing a role in a number of the Storm's tries while being denied one of his own by the narrowest of margins.
Storm and Queensland skipper Cameron Smith, who started off the bench, said his teammate had played himself to a standstill by the final whistle.
"He was a bit buggered out there the little fella," Smith said.
"You could see the effect on him because it's a bit different to what he's been used to ... but I thought he handled himself well and he set up a couple of good tries for us."
Cronk himself said he had no qualms about backing up, despite some of his Queensland teammates in the Brisbane side doing so.
"It's obviously tough, I'm not going to lie about that but that's what's required," Cronk said after the AAMI Park match.
"To come out here with the fans and the expectation, it's just what you've got to do."
Cronk said his side wasn't bothered about the strength of the Brisbane line-up and was happy to take the points whoever they played against, particularly as they were coming off their first loss of the season.
"It doesn't matter the team that you play against or the players that they've got, particularly after the way we performed against Cronulla it was vital that we got the things back in place that worked for nine or 10 weeks before that and I think we did that."
