Dwelling followers had excessive hopes heading into this Yorkshire derby with interim coach Liam Finn having a squad that was near full power and morale-boosting victories of their earlier two matches.
When Leeds started sloppily, with Lachie Miller kicking lengthy, the Giants punished them as George King compelled his manner over for his first attempt of the season with 62 seconds on the clock.
It was a false daybreak for the jubilant house supporters as Leeds ran in 5 tries with out reply to take the sport away from Giants earlier than half-time.
Croft was first on the scoresheet, and after extra sloppy defence from the restart, Jarrod O’Connor scampered over from dummy half to place Leeds in entrance.
Huddersfield didn’t assist themselves with some smooth defence, lacking a staggering 51 tackles within the match, however Rhinos have been irrepressible, finishing their units, shifting the ball swiftly and threatening on each assault.
The house facet weren’t helped when Sam Halsall, again for his first sport after six weeks out with a hamstring damage, needed to be helped off with a calf drawback simply 16 minutes in.
James McDonnell’s go out of the again of his hand despatched Jack Chook over, Ryan Corridor picked up his 250th attempt in a Leeds shirt because the Giants defence malfunctioned once more, and Miller chipped, chased and touched down for one more.
The Giants gave themselves a glimmer of hope with Jacob Douglas’ advantageous end within the nook simply earlier than the break, however they shot themselves within the foot once more as Taane Milne, injured within the build-up to that attempt, robotically failed a head damage evaluation for failing to put on a compulsory mouthguard.
Leeds piled on the distress as Cam Smith went over after which a 40/20 kick from Jake Connor, who additionally kicked eight conversions, introduced discipline place from which Croft nabbed his second attempt.
Three minutes later Croft scored his third, earlier than Jacob Gagai’s fourth attempt in his previous 5 video games gave the forlorn Giants followers one thing to cheer.
It barely interrupted the procession as Tremendous League’s high try-scorer Maika Sivo lastly obtained in on the act for his fifteenth of the season, and Croft stepped and scampered for his fourth earlier than Olly Russell added a late comfort attempt.
