But Hodges’ Broncos teammates, including Corey Parker, are confident that is something the representative star won’t have to worry about.
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Hodges, 33, was yesterday cited by the NRL match review committee for his 57th-minute tackle on Sydney Roosters second-rower Aidan Guerra in Friday’s preliminary final 31-12 win.
“I just want to thank everyone here for giving me a fair trial, we have a system in place when you make a bad decision in rugby league, you have the chance to come here and state your case”.
Guerra gave evidence at the judiciary, saying he jumped when Hodges went to tackle him.
The Souths forward said he did not feel a sense of injustice nor hoped the judiciary treated Hodges with the same heavy-handedness, but instead implored the NRL to help prevent the best players in the game missing important matches. Not because I had to, just because I wanted to see them train and wishing I was out there.
The Broncos, who won the last of their six premierships in 2006, completely overran the Roosters, scoring six tries to two in their romp at Lang Park.
Year after year I have watched them rise with great anticipation into the top eight, only to fail at the final few hurdles – often in controversial circumstances – and not be able to clinch that sweet, sweet victory.
Boyd says he doesn’t know what was going through Kenny-Dowall’s head when delivered the errant pass that set Brisbane on course for the grand final.
Hodges protested to referee Matt Cecchin that Guerra had contributed to the way the tackle ended up. “It’s sort of clear what I was aiming to get out of it. I wasn’t really thinking about the repercussions for me personally, it was more about the momentum of the game”.
Smith said not playing in that grand final is something that has stayed with him.
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Hodges’ defence counsel Nick Ghabar said that was primarily Guerra’s fault. “Hodgo has turned up at training today, it’s out of our hands now”, he said.
