Raiders injury toll deepens after Josh Hodgson ‘tragedy’

The Canberra Raiders injury hole has deepened after the latest injury disaster may have ended star hooker Josh Hodgson’s season.

Josh Hodgson knew it was bad.

The Canberra Raiders have suffered its latest devastating blow with superstar hooker Josh Hodgson going down with a serious knee injury in the first half of the side’s 20-14 loss against the Melbourne Storm.

Aiming to claim a fourth straight win over the Storm, the Raiders were hamstrung at the end of the first half in a brutal double blow when Hodgson went down with the injury and winger Bayley Simonsson was controversially sin binned in the same play.

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Hodgson joins John Bateman, Corey Horsburgh, Sia Soliola, Emre Guler and Bayley Simonsson, who went down with a late injury on the side’s injury list with a shoulder sublux.

But the Raiders aren’t the only team with mounting injury concerns as Sydney Roosters appear to be in a similar situation as several teams struggle with long injury lists.

Already in round nine, Fox Sports have reported 12 injuries in six games while the casualty list for each team continues to grow.

After the match against the Storm, Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker was asked if Canberra could win without Hodgson.

“I think we can but we don’t want to look too far ahead,” he said. “We’re down on troops but we’re not the only side, there’re players going down in every game, it’s deadset going to be the survival of the fittest.

“Seen some tough injuries over the past three or four weeks and it’s starting to take its toll. We’re disappointed, we’re down on troops but we’re not alone, every side is getting injuries so it’s about who rallies together best I think.”

With the mounting injury toll, the competition could come down to keeping enough of your best team on the park at the right time.

The star hooker went down with an injury in the 30th minute when the Storm shifted left.

Reportedly the medical officer on watch reportedly said “poor bugger” with the injury feared to be an ACL.

Josh Hodgson knew something was wrong immediately.

Michael Ennis said on Fox League that “my heart sunk” when Hodgson went down with the injury.

While the opposite knee to serious ACL injury he suffered in 2017, the worst is feared for the Canberra superstar.

With Josh Hodgson’s latest suspected ACL injury (right knee) being opposite to his 2017 ACL rupture (left knee), worth noting those who suffer an ACL injury are actually at increased risk of suffering an ACL injury to the opposite knee in the future (usual rates between 5-20%)

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 11, 2020

Raiders have had a significant no. of long term injuries in recent weeks:
Corey Horsburgh (Lisfranc): 3-4 months
Sia Soliola (facial fractures): 3-4 months
Emre Guler (broken ankle): 2 months
Josh Hodgson: possible ACL 6-9 months
Bailey Simonsson: possible serious shoulder injury

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 11, 2020

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said he hadn’t had such a big injury list in his tenure coaching in the NRL.

“I haven’t had one but I just asked them after the game to keep turning up with that same attitude and desire of their competitiveness,” he said. “They competed at everything tonight.”

Stuart also slammed the sin binning saying “I don’t know how we can use all this technology and money and still get it wrong.”

Wishing Josh Hodgson a speedy recovery 💜

— Melbourne Storm (@storm) July 11, 2020

Losing Josh Hodgson would be a tragedy for the whole #NRL - he makes games worth watching with his creativity and leadership. I hope his knee isn't as bad as it looks. #NRLRaidersStorm

— Roy Ward (@rpjward) July 11, 2020

I don’t care that they are playing Storm - awful to see Josh Hodgson go down. He’s so good to watch. I hope it’s not as bad as that looks #NRL #NRLRaidersStorm

— Joshua Wells (@joshuawells93) July 11, 2020