RUGBY LEAGUE
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
NEWCASTLE Knights halfback Trent Hodkinson said he’s desperately hoping to take the field against the Canberra Raiders at Orange’s Wade Park Saturday week, but conceded the decision might not be his to make.
Hodkinson, still playing for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at that stage, busted his wrist and thumb in round 25 last year - coincidentally against the Knights - which ended his season and required extensive surgery before rehab that stretched well into the 2016 pre-season.
Despite being cleared to resume full contact training recently, Hodkinson won’t play in the Knights’ trials in Newcastle this weekend and said he’s a “50-50” prospect of taking the field in the side’s final trial at Wade Park on Saturday, February 20.
“They tell me with what I did it was pretty much the worst way to do it, so I did a good job of it,” the incumbent NSW State of Origin pivot laughed.
“At this stage, I’m a 50-50 chance (to play in Orange). It’s feeling really good and I’m not thinking about it at all when I’m out training, so I’m pretty hopeful of pulling on the red and blue for the first time out there.
“I’ll need to check with the surgeon though, or if he wants me to wait until round one.
“Either way, I’d say I’ll make the trip and I’m really looking forward to getting out there actually.”
It won’t be the 27-year-old’s first trip to the colour city either, the last time he was here came through his friendship with Orange product and Gold Coast Titans utility Dan Mortimer - the two spent time at the Parramatta Eels together.
“I’m pretty sure I played some school footy out that way, but I came out for a little trip with a few boys at one stage and stayed with Dan Mortimer out at his parents’ place, the winery,” Hodkinson said.
“I thoroughly enjoyed that, and as I said I’m really looking forward to coming back out to Orange. All the boys are, we always look forward to getting out to those sort of places.”
Assuming he’s fit enough to take to Wade Park against the Raiders, Hodkinson said the trial is about putting the final touches on a gruelling pre-season campaign.
“For me it’s about getting the football in my hands, blowing some of the cobwebs out in a game situation and testing out the match fitness a bit,” Hodkinson said.
“From a team perspective, we want to just keep building on everything we’ve been working on during the pre-season, keep building those combinations and try to get everything where it needs to be for round one.”
Tickets for the clash are still available at the Civic Centre box office or online through Ticketek.