Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson out for nine months with knee injury
CANBERRA’S 2018 premiership hopes have been rocked by an ACL injury to hooker Josh Hodgson, who will be sidelined for up to nine months.
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THE Canberra Raiders’ 2018 premiership hopes have been rocked with confirmation Josh Hodgson will be sidelined for up to nine months after suffering an ACL knee injury during England’s World Cup semi-final win.
It means the star dummy half will be racing just to return in time for next year’s NRL finals series.
Incredibly, under NRL guidelines, the Raiders will still have to carry the load of Hodgson’s salary on their cap for next season despite the fact the injury occurred while the 28-year-old was not playing for the club.
For years, NRL clubs have been calling for a change to NRL salary cap rules so clubs aren’t so significantly disadvantaged by injuries that occur while players are away on rep duty.
This basically equates to a $1 million blow for the club, given Canberra now lose one of their highest paid players and also have to try and find a suitable replacement hooker whose salary will also add to the club’s cap for next year.
Ricky Stuart could not be contacted on Sunday night but The Daily Telegraph understands he was shattered for Hodgson, and absolutely filthy about how the club will now have to carry the World Cup burden into next season.
It is known Stuart was furious at the condition his Samoan players were returned to the club recently, looking like “they’d been on an end-of-season trip away, not playing in a World Cup.”
Josh Papalii and Junior Paulo in particular put on considerable weight while away playing for Samoa.
There was also concern as to how Hodgson’s injury occurred.
He initially went down early in the game clutching his knee after having his leg caught awkwardly in a tackle but was given the okay to play on.
Several minutes later Hodgson’s knee buckled while he was attempting to make a tackle.
Only last week Hodgson extended his deal at the club until the end of the 2022 season.
What makes Hodgson’s injury worse for the Raiders is that the club recently lost back-up hooker Adam Clydesdale and could be forced to off-load fellow dummy half Kurt Baptise in the coming days so the club can get salary cap compliant.
Adding to the problem, rising hooker Erin Clarke, who was also in the Raiders’ top squad, also returned to New Zealand recently due to family reasons.
While the Raiders recently signed Craig Garvey from Canterbury, Hodgson’s loss will have a huge impact on the club’s hopes next year.
Earlier this year Canberra lost captain Jarrod Croker for the opening rounds after he suffered an ankle injury while away playing for the NRL All Stars.