Trent Hodkinson and the bravest call in State of Origin history
DURING Queensland’s dynasty, one halfback orchestrated a Blues series win. Yet his feat has never received the plaudits it deserved, writes NICK WALSHAW.
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FIVE times Trent Hodkinson tries answering your question. And four times, he stops. Too humble for complete honesty and yet too good a bloke for anything less.
And to be fair, the inquiry is no soft toss.
Specifically: Did you get enough respect for winning the 2014 Origin series?
“Ah, look,” the Manly playmaker starts. “It’s hard to say because, um … I mean … it’s all a bit, you know …”
And then, finally, after more pushing: “No, I don’t think we did.”
And by we, Hodkinson means himself and Josh Reynolds, that great mate and former halves partner now playing with Wests Tigers.
“Grubby and I, we still talk about it, too,” Hodkinson says.
“But whatever they say about us, whatever they think … nobody can take that Origin series away.”
Which is why this week, League Central had to seek him out.
Understanding that sometime soon, should everything go right for NSW and Freddyball, Hodkinson will no longer be that last halfback to get it done for his state.
Instead, the tag will shift to Nathan Cleary, aka Boy Wonder. A fella for whom column inches flow.
But Hodko? Not so much.
Instead, when the Blues were this week announced amid much hype — and in those jackets lifted straight from Miami Vice — the last halfback to get us home was watching on from his lounge, those four years since his triumph surely feeling more like decades.
At 29, Hodkinson is at his third club this year. On supposedly shot knees, too. All of which we’ll discuss soon. But first, and before his reign as the Blues’ last winning halfback is wiped forever, we want to revive that night of Origin II, 2014.
When with nine minutes to play at ANZ Stadium, and NSW down 4-zip, the halfback found himself near the tryline, on a short blind. His only thought: get the ball in your hands.
And it’s because NSW were loaded up to go open that Hodkinson saw Queensland fullback Billy Slater do the same.
“Normally in that situation, the fullback stays floating on the short side,” he says.
“But Billy, he took off early …”
And so with Robbie Farah moving into dummy-half and Reynolds calling the ball right, Hodkinson screamed the ballsiest overcall in Origin history: “Bluuuuues.”
“Although really, it was a no-brainer,” he shrugs.
“I just had to call loud enough for Robbie to hear.”
And Farah, he heard, and got Hodkinson the ball via a double-pump pass.
“Which held the Queensland A defender,” Hodkinson says.
“And outside me was Ryan Hoffman, I’d been feeding him the ball all night.
“I guess Queensland expected it again, too, because whoever was out there, Daly Cherry-Evans maybe, they stayed out. So I did a little dummy and ran …”
Right into Origin history.
Calling the play, scoring the try, kicking the goal, ending a dynasty with the 6-4 victory to secure the series.
And still, an Origin legend he ain’t. Not like, who it was suggested receive a statue. Or Jarryd Hayne, whose image up on that Homebush fence — arms outstretched like Christ the Redeemer — remains among the most replayed in Origin history.
But Hodko? Nothing.
And maybe it’s because the Queensland No. 7 Cooper Cronk broke his arm in game one, then missed game two.
“Still, they had Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston,” shrugs the halfback who in two games did what more than a dozen NSW halves couldn’t in the previous 24.
“But whatever anyone thinks, it doesn’t matter. I’ve always considered myself lucky to be
part of that team. I don’t need accolades.”
Which is just as well. Especially after NSW lost Origin I the next year, by a point, and Hodkinson was so heavily hammered by Blues greats — particularly Phil Gould and Andrew Johns — that his captain intervened.
Gallen used Fox Sports’ NRL 360 to not only back his No. 7, but rage about having “had a gutful of blokes giving it to him”.
“Which I remember well,” Hodkinson says.
“The criticism I received in 2015, it was disappointing because it came from guys I’d looked up to growing up.
“Guys who had represented NSW before.
“You look at Queenslanders, they back their team no matter what. I guess I just wasn’t a favourite.”
And nor is he again now.
Gone from Newcastle, shuffled through Cronulla and tonight with Manly, where many fans howl down his signing. Which is their right.
But if ever there was one poster you wanted stuck to your kid’s bedroom wall, surely Hodkinson is it.
Knowing those sick kids whose names he scribbles on to green kicking tees, they are also part of his life.
Indeed, just like when Hodko partnered Hannah Rye to her high school formal last July, then attended her funeral only weeks later, so he stays in contact with others such as Curtis Landers, the Forster schoolboy who, after breaking his neck in 2014, was the name on his tee that night a Maroons dynasty ended.
And while little of this you see, know that plenty of it hurts.
“Unfortunately, we’ve lost some, yeah,” Hodkinson says of the children he honours in black texta on his strapping.
“But I stay in touch with the families. I love hearing from everyone.”
And if all that isn’t enough, how about the way this most underrated of Cockroaches survives?
Again this year, Hodkinson is supposedly done. Like last year, when dropped by the Knights. And in 2015, when cut by Canterbury.
He was done, too, in 2012 after three surgeries in 15 weeks. And in 2009, when Manly kept him all year in Queensland Cup.
Hell, the kid was even cut by Parramatta before graduating under-20s.
And yet against the Cowboys tonight, back at Brookvale as a Sea Eagle for the first time since his rookie year, Hodkinson runs out for game No. 163.
Which is some feat on those knees, right?
“Oh, with everything being written, you’d think I’m unable to walk,” he laughs.
“Which is frustrating because my knee, it’s good. Haven’t missed a game because of it in four years.”
So why the talk?
“It started when the Knights dropped me,” he says.
“Stories were fed to local media about there being a problem. It was an easy way to move me on.”
So all this talk started from within Newcastle HQ?
“I know it did,” he says.
“Know there’s plenty still out there. Which isn’t to say I’m trying to prove anyone wrong. I’m not.
“But still, I know I’m capable of good footy. Capable of playing in the NRL. I just need to get the ball in my hands.”
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