Josh Hodgson, looks like going to West Tigers, the 32 year old has undergone a medical at the club, they are prepared to pay the Raiders $500,000 out of his $900,000 deal for next year. Reported in todays Sun-Herald.
Josh Hodgson, looks like going to West Tigers, the 32 year old has undergone a medical at the club, they are prepared to pay the Raiders $500,000 out of his $900,000 deal for next year. Reported in todays Sun-Herald.
This really surprises me, as ive never thought of him as being any good, he isnt a patch on Roby or Clark.
I don't think you're giving Hodgson the credit he deserves, he has widely been regarded as one of the top 3 hookers in the NRL for several years.
Roby and Clark at their best were/are darters, explosive out of dummy half. They're a different style of hooker to Hodgson. He's schemer. At SL level, a comparison with Paul McShane would be more appropriate. In the NRL, he was compared with Cameron Smith due to his style.
Now I've said myself when talking about the top hookers in the NRL over the past few years... when Cameron Smith was heralded as the best, I've said I would have Damien Cook in my team. That's because I prefer that style of hooker, but that doesn't mean I didn't think Smith was a great player.
Hodgson is in the last year of his deal at Canberra and they're willing to let him go because they are unlikely to offer him an extension. They have a really good emerging hooker in Tom Starling on their books. So if he can get 2 or more years elsewhere, they'll let him go with their blessing. Contributing to a salary happens often and if the figures quoted are correct, it means they'd have ~ $500K AUD back on their cap even with chipping in on his wages elsewhere.
On another note... I've read that Newcastle have released Mitchell Pearce to sign with Catalan. I think he'll be a good replacement for Maloney. He was still performing well in the NRL last season.
*Not to be confused with Mike Stephenson, MBE
From the games ive seen him play i dont think i have anything to give him credit for, other than slowing our attack down to the point that we pretty much go backwards. Over the last 10 years he would be competing with Paul McShane for the spot of Englands 3rd choice hooker for me, behind Roby and Clark, both of whom in my eyes offer far more than Hodgson, including crucially, quicker movement of the ball from dummy half.
This is my personal opinion based on what i want the hooker to do, it may be that my view of that is coloured by the quality of hooker we have had at Saints over the last 25 years, and their contribution to our style of play, but a ‘schemer’ who slows the game down from dummy half is not something that creates space needed to allow the higher flair players to create opportunities to score tries, causing the game to be even more limited to the grind and bash.
Agree with this - the most important job of a hooker is fast, accurate ball out of acting half (together with an ability to mix it up running the ball so as not to be predictable) and Roby was/is a master at this. Watching Hodgson play for England/GB was so frustrating because he slows the game down sooooooo much.
We have been spoilt with Roby's passing out of acting half - most hookers look like they are playing the game in slow motion in comparison.
We had a problem with Roby in the first part of the season he was very average and was probably on a par with Hodgson. Roby's passing game and dropped ball was way below his best, but once we got to the Challenge Cup Semi Final he got his mojo back and was back to what he does best leading up to the play offs.
Agree (and with the other posters on here who made the same point). Scarcely have I seen a more overrated player. There is little in Hodgson's game that is above average: his passing is ponderous and he seems to overplay at international level, his kicking game is average and you could'nt compare his defence to a hitter like Cunningham or even McIllorum.
He fits very squarely into the he has done alright in the NRL so he MUST be good bracket. I'd have him a distance below the likes of Roby in his pomp, below Clark and below even the likes of McIllorum and about par with Houghton. Just do not rate Hodgson at all to be honest.
Agree with the general thoughts on Hodgson here. I've found him incredibly frustrating to watch when playing for England/GB. He's obviously on a completely different planet ability-wise, but it reminds me of watching Saints with Tommy Lee at 9: he picks up the ball at dummy half, takes two or three steps out to one side, looks around for something, then if there's nothing on he passes the ball. By that time the defensive line already know which way the play is going and are already all over you, and your first receiver and everyone outside him is still wondering whether to wait or go. It completely neuters the attack.
He's highly rated in Aus so whether this is something he just does for England I don't know - maybe he thinks that because he's a big star in the NRL he needs to do more with the ball when he represents his country - but whatever the reason, in the international games I've seen him play he's been more hindrance than help. There are three or four hookers I'd rather see in the England side ahead of him.
Some poor shouts on here I feel. Hodgson is a very good player and certainly better than most if not all of the Super League hookers bar Roby. Darryl Clark is one that gets hyped up over here, but he ultimately does nothing. He's a scoot merchant and although it's impressive when he cuts through from distance, most of the time in most games he's a below average distributer and a poor organiser. McShane I don't rate at all. He's a poorly conditioned version of Hodgson without as much talent. Man of Steel? Has anyone ever gone into a game worrying that Paul McShane is playing for the opposition? I doubt it.
Hodgson got a certain amount of unfair advantage of Bennets thinking that any England player in the NRL was better than a Superleague version in that position. I think you maybe a bit to critical of Clark and McShane they are pretty decent hookers and are pretty dangerous in open play, I've got Hodgson as a similar standard and effectiveness as Danny Houghton. I wouldn't really say McShane is poorly conditioned he plays big minutes and in 2020 played with a lot of injuries but carried on for his team.
Every player named in this thread is/was a very good player, that should go without saying and all deserve a lot of respect for what they have achieved in their respective careers. So what I'm getting at, is that Hodgson deserves as much respect as anyone else. He's been consistently doing it in the NRL for the past 6 years. In one of the most important positions on the field, he's played ~ 150 games over there. Captained Canberra in the GF a couple years back. He's done this whilst suffering 2 ACL injuries as well, I think. Even if you look at the stats from this past season, in his 20 appearances, he's managed 10 try assists. That's more than any other hooker in SL, with the exception of Leeming at Leeds. And I think Leeming played quite a few games in the halves as well.
When you think about it, if he's been able to command ~$900K AUD/~£500K per season, that's likely not far off the combined sum of Clark, McShane, Houghton and maybe another SL level hooker too. That demonstrates how he's valued over there.
Last edited by Mike Stephenson; 16th November 2021 at 00:07.
*Not to be confused with Mike Stephenson, MBE
It demonstrates less how he's valued over there and more how underpaid our players are in SL. I'll trust the evidence of my own eyes when it comes to Hodgson; good luck to him for somehow being paid more than what Roby earns. I think the fact his wages are being massively subsidised shows that he was given an inflated contract that currently sits massively above his true market value.