Broncos centre Justin Hodges silences doubters with dominant display against Knights

PERHAPS the greatest indicator of how dominant Justin Hodges was against Newcastle came via Knights captain Danny Buderus' comments.

PERHAPS the greatest indicator of how dominant veteran centre Justin Hodges was yesterday was the unprompted rave review Newcastle Knights captain Danny Buderus gave him.

Asked about Brisbane's general performance, Buderus laughed, shook his head and said: "Justin Hodges is just playing sensational and he just terrorised us out there.

"Their big-game players like him stood up."

Hodges' performance now means NSW coach Ricky Stuart has another headache to counter, as the Maroons centre ridiculed those who doubted his ageing body with a brilliant display.

Hodges was unusually quiet in Origin I.

But in the Broncos' 50-24 win over the Knights, he sounded a warning.

Despite turning 30 two weeks ago, Hodges scored two tries, had two linebreaks, made six offloads, two tackle breaks and ran for 136m.

Not bad for a guy who has his own specialised training program to minimise any injury risk.

Hodges capped his performance with a cheeky tongue poke as he planted the ball for a match-turning try, backing up a Gerard Beale break from deep in the Broncos' half.

He said he was desperate to show Broncos fans that playing for his club truly meant something and Origin was not a distraction.

"Coming off three losses and considering we are away next week without Origin players, all us Origin guys owed it to the fans and the club to do well today," Hodges said.

Hodges was the impetus for the Broncos surging to a 24-0 lead early in the match.

He set up Beale for a try in the fourth minute.

Just 15 minutes later, Hodges scored his own, crashing through disorganised defence from 10m out.

The Knights managed to fight back, but it was again Hodges who sparked the Broncos' burst in the last 20 minutes with his second try.