There were few fiercer competitors to pull on a Queensland Maroons jumper in 44 years of State of Origin than FOG# 103, Justin Hodges. From his infamous Origin debut in Brisbane in 2002 to his 254th and final game of his decorated career when denied a fairytale ending in the 2015 grand final -- Hodges gave his heart and soul to Rugby League.
Premiership wins with the Sydney Roosters (2002) and Brisbane (2006) were just a few rewards during his 15-year Rugby League journey. Hodges saddled up in 24 games for Queensland, played 13 Tests for Australia and made three appearances for the Indigenous All Stars. He hung up his boots with 99 NRL tries. FOGS caught up with Hodgo, and he was happy to talk about his amazing Rugby League career.
WHAT HAPPENED IN YOUR HORROR ORIGIN DEBUT?
Hodges made his State of Origin debut for Queensland in game two of the 2002 series in which he gifted NSW two tries with wayward in-goal passes.
While it was a night to forget for the 20-year-old, he attributes it to building resilience and character as a player.
HODGES:
"I’d waited my whole life to play for Queensland and after 60 minutes of playing crap, I thought it was all over"
"I tried to do things that night that didn’t come off but that’s the way I always played my football. I back my ability no matter what.
On the big moments, I was never shy about making a big play or shy about coming up with something nobody else would try. That’s how I played my football.
I took it very hard for a while, I felt I had let my family and Queensland down.
But It taught me some valuable lessons about myself, it taught me to be resilient
It also taught me that if I could get through the worst game I ever played and bounce back to play some good games, it proved to me who I was as a Rugby League player.
It made me realise that things happen for a reason. I’ve never watched replays of that game, I can’t. I’ve seen it played at Origin time at functions but I still can’t get myself to watch it. It’s always inside my head, I’ve never forgotten it, but I’ve learned to deal with it."
BEN HUNT’S DROPPED BALL IN BRISBANE’S 2015 GF GOLDEN POINT LOSS
Hodges was captain of the 2015 Grand Final side. It was his swansong and a fairytale awaited to end his stellar 254-game career which began in 2000. The Cowboys scored a try to level the scores in the dying minutes with the epic clash going into golden point. Brisbane halfback Ben Hunt fumbled the ball from the kickoff and North Queensland marvel Johnathan Thurston slotted a pressure field goal to secure his club a historic maiden premiership. Images of Hunt buckled over on his haunches, almost dry retching are difficult to watch and Hodges, as captain was the first player to console to young Broncos half.
HODGES:
"I just told him whatever had happened it wasn’t his fault. There’s no way in the world we should have been in that position anyway, we should have had the game wrapped up. Ben made the mistake, but as a team, we shouldn’t have put him in that position because the game should have been all over."
”I wanted to win the grand final, but at the end of the day, without Ben, I don’t think we make it to the grand final.”
"That was one of the best years I have seen him play. I’ve never said as captain it was Hunty’s fault.
He beat himself up over it for a long period but there isn’t a Bronco player who blames him for the loss. After that grand final, things could have gone very badly for him. I’ve been down that road myself. You make a mistake on the biggest of days, you feel like you’ve let everyone down, and it’s a dark place to be. But I am proud of Ben for the way he has handled himself and he is playing some great football."
YOUR FALLING OUT WITH WAYNE BENNETT
Hodges was a young teenager when he arrived at Red Hill and displayed enormous potential in his first few years. But he wanted to play fullback and at the time Brisbane had the world’s best No.1 in Darren Lockyer, so he secretly negotiated a deal with the Sydney Roosters. When Bennett found out, he banished Hodges to the Broncos Queensland Cup feeder club for the rest of the season.
HODGES:
"I came down from Cairns and obviously Wayne and Brisbane had invested a lot of time into my development and I probably didn’t fully understand that at the time. Wayne wasn’t happy with me. But a few months later, at an emerging Origin squad camp, we spoke about a few things and to his credit, he buried the hatchet and got me back to the Broncos in 2005.
There were probably a lot of people at the Broncos who didn’t want me back because of what had happened."
“Without Wayne standing up for me, there’s no way in the world I would have ever come back to the Broncos. I always wanted to play for Wayne to repay him for all the things he did for me.”
HODGES WON TWO PREMIERSHIPS WITH THE ROOSTERS AND BRONCOS
Hodges won grand finals with both clubs and both were very special for different reasons. His 2002 premiership with the Sydney Roosters was special but his 2006 title with the Brisbane Broncos was memorable for the way the players came together after almost everyone had written them off. Hodges scored the first try of the 2006 grand final which set up Brisbane’s 15-8 upset and its sixth and last premiership.
HODGES:
"The Roosters grand final (2002) was special but I was pretty young and I probably didn’t fully understand what we had accomplished. The 2006 premiership with Brisbane -- a year after I made my peace with Wayne (Bennett) -- was memorable because the Broncos had been written off by many coming into the finals.
We’d lost a few games after Origin and most critics had written us off.
But we came together and built a special bond four or five weeks out from the finals. We went on a run and started winning games and everything fell into place for us.
“It was a special feeling, the amount of respect and the connection we had as a group was unbelievable."
"Wayne made a few key positional changes before the grand final against Melbourne who were hot favourites. He moved me to fullback and shifted Karmichael Hunt to wing. He also pulled off a masterstroke playing our defensive specialist David Stagg in the centres, who did a great job in containing Melbourne’s biggest attacking weapon, Greg Inglis."
"We hadn’t beaten the Storm in two games that year. Lots of us played in different positions in that grand final, we just did what we had to do."
“There was no sooking, K (Hunt) got swapped to the wing, Berro (Shaun Berrigan) was in the centres and playing dummy half, I was moved to fullback with Staggy defending GI (Inglis)."
"To play Melbourne in the grand final and beat them, showed just how special that year was and how special that group of players was."
WHERE DOES BEING CAPTAIN OF THE BRISBANE BRONCOS SIT?
HODGES:
"It’s probably one of the highest achievements of my career. I never really looked at myself as being a captain. You think about some of the players who have captained the Broncos who are absolute legends of the game."
"To be able to say I was the captain of the biggest sporting club in Australia was, and still is, an absolute privilege. I loved every minute of it. I tried to lead by example on the field. I was good at mixing with the younger players as well as the older players and keeping everyone on the same page to be successful and win football games."
"I was proud of all the young kids who came through that year and played in a grand final. We were only seconds away from winning it."
YOU FOUND YOURSELF IN THE HEADLINES EARLY IN YOUR CAREER WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A YOUNG REECE WALSH?
HODGES:
“I think Reece just needs to concentrate on playing football. At the end of the day, you have to fit into the team environment."
"You can’t think you are bigger than the team or that the team has to fit into what you want to do. The great sides I’ve been a part of, even going back to when we were so successful in the Origin, there were so many egos and so many great players, but we came together because we wanted to be successful."
"Not once did we come into camp and talk about salaries or where our team was placed on the ladder; we just came together to make past players who had worn the jersey proud. The biggest advice I would give to Reece Is: ‘Put your head down, work hard and do what the team requires you to do’, “
"I didn’t like him spraying veteran winger Corey Oates on the field recently.
Imagine any of us doing that to Gordie Tallis Wendell Sailor or Shane Webcke back in the day. You’d get punched in the face."
HODGES PLAYED IN A WONDERFUL ERA AGAINST SOME OF THE GAMES GREATS SO IF HE COULD HOST A DINNER WITH FOUR PLAYERS, WHO WOULD THEY BE?
HODGES:
"It’s hard to pick just four. GI (Greg Inglis) would be one because we were close, Karmichael (Hunt) because were always tight, Lote Tuqiri and of course Alfie (Allan Langer). They’d be a wild motley crew.
WHO DID YOU MOST ENJOY PLAYING FOOTBALL WITH?
HODGES:
"At the Roosters I loved playing with Freddy (Brad Fittler), Ricko (Luke Ricketson) and Wingy (Craig Wing), those guys brought the best out of me.
At the Broncos I loved playing alongside Locky (Darren Lockyer), Webbie (Shane Webcke) and so many other fantastic players."
"I played with so many wonderful players, it’s always hard to select just a few.
Everyone you played with had their special talents. Butt the way Webcke trained was exactly the same way he played, He wasn’t like Payne Haas who has a bit more flair, he had the work hard to get where he got to and he retired as one of the greatest front-rowers of all time."
“It’s a lesson for young players to work hard for what they want."
YOU NEVER SHIED AWAY FROM A PUNCH-UP ON THE FIELD WAS THAT WHAT ENTICED YOU TO HAVE A CRACK AT BOXING AFTER YOU RETIRED?
HODGES:
“It was something I always wanted to do. Growing up in Cairns I did a fair bit of boxing. I’ve always loved the boxing scene and I used to watch Choc (Anthony Mundine) fight whenever I could. I was at ringside and in his corner.
Boxing was always something I wanted to try."
"I only wish I’d jumped straight into the ring after I retired from Rugby League.
But It took me three or four years to get up the nerve to get into the ring
I had 10 or 11 fights. The rush you get from boxing is incredible."
YOU HAD A WAR WITH NSW ORIGIN STAR PAUL GALLEN ON THE FIELD AND TWO EPIC FIGHTS IN THE RING.
HODGES:
"I wouldn’t say the fights were as tough as an Origin game but you have to admire Gal because he gave everything on the footy field and he gave everything in the boxing ring as well."
"That was the challenge for me because, at the time, Gal was the best cross-over guy, he was top of the tree going from league to boxing."
“I wanted to test myself against him and I was fortunate we had two really good fights. I take my hat off to him, he is one tough bastard."
"I wish I had hit him a little bit harder in our first fight, I might have knocked him out."
Hodges, now 42, is still involved in Rugby League as a Broncos skills coach and assists Karmichael Hunt as a coach with Souths."
His son Carter plays for Brothers at Stafford and one of his teammates is Hugo Lockyer. What odds about a future Brisbane Broncos team could have a side featuring the names of Hodges and Lockyer once again?
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