Image source, SWPixImage caption, Brodie Croft had not scored a senior hat-trick before he came up with four tries against Huddersfield
ByStuart BrennanBBC Sport England- Published17 April 2026, 22:04 BST
- 11 Comments
Betfred Super League
Huddersfield (10) 22
Tries: King, Douglas, Gagai, Russell Goals: Lolohea, Russell 2
Leeds (28) 56
Tries: Croft 4, O'Connor, Bird, Hall, Miller, Smith, Sivo Goals: Connor 8
Brodie Croft scored four tries as Leeds Rhinos thumped Huddersfield Giants to go top of Super League.
The Australian stand-off had not scored a hat-trick in his senior career before his quadruple at the Accu Stadium, as Brad Arthur's team ran in 10 tries in total against a ragged defence.
That made it three consecutive wins for Rhinos and ended the Giants' own revival, after they had beaten Wigan Warriors and York Knights for their first wins of the season.
Leeds move above St Helens with the victory to top the table on points difference, with Huddersfield in 11th place.
Home fans had high hopes heading into this Yorkshire derby with interim coach Liam Finn having a squad that was close to full strength and morale-boosting victories in their previous two matches.
When Leeds began sloppily, with Lachie Miller kicking long, the Giants punished them as George King forced his way over for his first try of the season with just 62 seconds on the clock.
It was a false dawn for the jubilant home supporters as Leeds ran in five tries without reply to take the game away from the Giants before half-time.
Croft was first on the scoresheet, and after more sloppy defence from the restart, Jarrod O'Connor scampered over from dummy half to put Leeds in front.
Huddersfield did not help themselves with some soft defence, missing a staggering 51 tackles in the match, but the Rhinos were irrepressible, completing their sets, moving the ball swiftly and threatening on every attack.
The home side were not helped when Sam Halsall, back for his first game after six weeks out with a hamstring injury, had to be helped off with a calf problem just 16 minutes.
James McDonnell's pass out of the back of his hand sent Jack Bird over, Ryan Hall picked up his 250th try in a Leeds shirt as the Giants defence malfunctioned again, and Miller chipped, chased and touched down for another.
The Giants gave themselves a glimmer of hope with Jacob Douglas' fine finish in the corner just before the break, but they shot themselves in the foot again as Taane Milne, injured in the build-up to that try, automatically failed a head injury assessment for not wearing a mandatory mouthguard.
Leeds piled on the misery as Cam Smith went over and then a 40/20 kick from Jake Connor, who also kicked eight conversions, brought field position from which Croft nabbed his second try.
Three minutes later Croft scored his third, before Jacob Gagai's fourth try in his past five games gave the forlorn Giants fans something to cheer.
It barely interrupted the procession as Super League's top try-scorer Maika Sivo finally got in on the act for his 15th of the season, and Croft stepped and scampered for his fourth before Olly Russell added a late consolation try.
'Not good enough' - reaction
Huddersfield Giants interim coach Liam Finn told BBC Radio Leeds:
"Very tough day. We'd obviously had a couple of good results, but we certainly weren't falling in love with ourselves. We knew we were on a journey to keep improving.
"We scored the early try but I don't think that helped us really. Defensively, at the start of the game, we were really poor through the middle, and the first two tries were as soft as they come.
"From that point on, we didn't control the ball, we didn't control how we turned the ball over - which we have been doing really well in the last couple of weeks - and a team as good as Leeds showed us what the levels are at the top of this competition."
Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur told BBC Radio Leeds:
"We need to care a bit more about our defence, it's not good enough. Our boys were a bit flat in the sheds on the back of that defensive performance.
"The majority of it was good but we lacked a bit of concentration and went to sleep at times. It has to be more important to us.
"I'm happy that we move the ball around and play a bit of footy, but when something doesn't go our way and we turn the ball over not the way we want it, we have got to defend it.
"Nothing is ever going to be perfect but it keeps us grounded, and I don't know if we'll touch the footy much this week, we'll be doing a lot of defence."
Huddersfield: Evalds; Douglas, Halsall, Gagai, Swift; Lolohea, Clune; Powell, Patolo, O'Donnell, Rogers, Woolford, King.
Interchanges: Milne, Burgess, Cozza, Russell.
Leeds: Miller; Hall, Bird, Handley, Sivo; Croft, Connor; Holroyd, O'Connor, Jenkins, McDonnell, Hankinson, Palasia.
Interchanges: Oledzki, Levi, Watkins, Smith.
Referee: Jack Smith.
