CANOWINDRA’S Haydon Hodge recently asked himself, and many others closest to him, if he was being selfish.
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The 23-year-old was poised to quit rugby league last year, feeling the time had come to start another career to support his baby girl, Lola.
Instead, Hodge’s attempted comeback with the Canberra Raiders is all for her.
After taking a year out of the game on medical advice, Hodge will take another step towards what would be a remarkable comeback when he plays for the Raiders at the Auckland Nines, beginning on January 31.
While the Nines is widely regarded as a warm-up tournament to the NRL, Hodge has everything on the line.
The former Australian Schoolboys representative has completed this pre-season on a base trial contract with the Raiders, worth about $800 a week, which expires at the end of February.
Showing how much the opportunity means to Hodge, the Nines coincides with his daughter’s first birthday.
“Having a little girl has brought me down to earth a lot, about what I want to do and why,” Hodge said.
“It’s a big part of why I’m back here trying to give it a crack. I put too many years into trying to [make the NRL], the reward if I get there is pretty big.
“I’ve talked to so many people about whether I should do this...I thought it might be selfish, but talking to other people eased my mind. Life’s too short.”
Raiders recruitment and junior development manager Dave Hamilton, still a mentor, has rated him highly since he first saw Hodge as a junior.
“He was a standout,” Hamilton said.
“I’m thinking this kid is going to jump [into the NRL], then he blew his knee and had problems after problems. I’d love to see him make it, it’s such a good story, the persistence, the work, the ups and downs of footy.
Hodge realised in 2013 his body was busted.
He’d had a reconstruction on his left knee, then hyper-extended it three times attempting a comeback. He then fractured the knee joint. Attempting to play on, he over-compensated on his good leg and tore his right quadriceps, or thigh, three times.
On advice from doctors, physios and Raiders staff, Hodge decided to take 2014 off, working at Gold Creek Country Club golf pro shop to pay the bills and kept in touch with footy by coaching the Raiders Under-16s. He had two more operations last year to clean out scar tissue on his troublesome knee, more importantly he rested.
“Playing with a knee that even hurt to walk wasn’t fun,” Hodge said.
“My knee got to a point where physios and doctors said you need time off. So I decided to have 12 months off ... I nearly didn’t come back at all, but the desire to play footy and NRL was too much.
“Now I’m 100 per cent, I’m feeling strong, fit and ready to go.”
“I’ll be doing everything I can to play NRL, that’s why I’m here.”
