Grand final great Cooper Cronk has heaped the ultimate praise on Luke Keary, ranking the retiring Sydney Roosters star alongside Immortal-in-waiting Cameron Smith as a teammate.
The only player in more than 50 years to win premierships with both the Roosters and South Sydney, Keary's decorated 230-match 11-year career came to end with the Tricolours' 48-18 preliminary final loss to Melbourne on Friday night.
The 32-year-old walks away as a triple grand final winner, a two-time NSW State of Origin representative and dual international with Australia and Ireland.
He won both his Roosters premierships in 2018 and 2019 alongside Cronk, who believes Keary should be remembered as a club great.
"I had to change my game a little bit. I realised that they didn't need another halfback to score more tries or set them up," Cronk said on Fox Sports of his halves partnership with Keary.
"He just needed someone to create space and give him confidence.
"Same with (James) Tedesco. I was fortunate enough that my style of play was a bit north (to) south. Their style of play was east (to) west.
"So it took a while to get there, but personality wise, we clicked from the word go."
During his own illustrious career, Cronk played in a total of nine grand finals, 38 Tests for Australia and 22 times for Queensland along the likes of Smith, Greg Inglis and Johnathan Thurston.
But he ranks Keary alongside them all as a teammate.
"I played with a lot of good players in my time, you know, Hall of Famers, future Immortals," he said.
"And in terms of instant connection, Luke Keary was right up there with the ability to play football, respect one another.
"He's a great family man, a super competitive guy and on that day in the grand final 2018, that was the game of his life.
"It was set up for him and he delivered."
