Josh Hodgson signs with Eels for 2023

[Azza]

This thread is GH at it's absolute best (or worst, depends how you look at it).

Anyway, sad news, but predictable. I feel Hodgo began our climb to the 2019 GF when he came on board in 2015 - everyone was crowing about Austin that year but I believed Hodgson was our best signing in a long time and he showed it during the following season and 2019 as well. Just a shame there was a big gap between his best and worst.

[SeeBee101]

Sad day to lose Hodgo. He took us from bottom 4 to our GF appearance in 4 years. Anyone who thinks he didn't play the BIGGEST part in that deserves an uppercut. Yes - he struggled with form post 2019, but I will put him down as being a Raiders Great (along with Papa, Croker and Rapa).

Moving forward - if we seriously don't make a play for a top tier signing in the next year i would be flabbergasted. We must easily over 1 mill to spend on a marque signing. Kikau or the Cheese would be a massive signing!

[Billy Walker]

I don't think Hodgson is a club legend, but neither is Croker. Club legend is a loose term bandied around regularly. I heard Braith Anasta being called a legend by Foxsports. For those who watched him played, that's just rubbish and embarrassing.

Hodgson was a very good player for us during a period of time, probably our most important player in 2016 - 2019. I don't know why he doesn't seem to get a lot of love on the GH Forum, but some fans may feel the same way about Croker.

Croker is similar to Chris Lawrence of the West Tigers. Both played a lot of games for their clubs, one club men, solid players and good clubmen, blokes who set a good culture but in my opinion not club legends. They are above average players though. Both also tailed off at the end of their careers. When you talk about club legends for the Wests Tigers, it's Benji for the Joint Venture, and Tommy R for Wests, and Wayne Pearce, Roach, Sironen, Elias, Garry Jack for Balmain. It's to be noted Lawrence did play for Australia, and Anasta for NSW and won a premiership in 2004 with Canterbury. But they didn't do much at rep level.

This is total nonsense. Croker didn’t find his way to captaincy from the centres and at a young age because he was solid. Croker carried us for years and was the only player offering much of anything in the darkest periods. Go back and watch some highlights smh. He now sits at number 3 on the ladder of top point scorers of all time (sitting above Jonathan Thurston and below Hasem El Masri) and he did that while spending a career in Canberra. And in the scheme of things, his decline has come sooner than expected.

He is our number one pointscorer of all time by some margin and oversaw our most successful 5 year period in over 20 years. The man is a club legend and to suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

And it took Billy 5000 posts before he produced a good one!

There are actually only 2 parts of Billy's post I disagree with, but one I cant see the sentiment.
1. I do think Croker deserves club legend status. The length of time and all the club records are worth that status.
2. Chris Lawerance... the bloke was too injury prone for the comment, and thus I disagree, BUT, I can see why he is making the comparison, and has picked a player of similar ilk to make it. Not to mention, its VERY clear that the names at the end of the comparison are far superior to both.

What post are you talking about Matt? I haven’t mentioned Croker in this thread. GE jumping at shadows and preemptively defending Croker perhaps? Very odd stuff

[Raiders_Pat]

I went back four pages to try to figure out who was calling Hodgson trash but all I found was people arguing over whether or not Croker is a club legend, and then people getting offended over comparing Hodgson with Croker... or have I missed a deleted comment?

[Mickey_Raider]

This thread is GH at it's absolute best (or worst, depends how you look at it).

Do you mean how it has somehow devolved into a Croker v Chris Lawrence qualitative assessment of club legendness?

[Matt]

I don't think Hodgson is a club legend, but neither is Croker. Club legend is a loose term bandied around regularly. I heard Braith Anasta being called a legend by Foxsports. For those who watched him played, that's just rubbish and embarrassing.

Hodgson was a very good player for us during a period of time, probably our most important player in 2016 - 2019. I don't know why he doesn't seem to get a lot of love on the GH Forum, but some fans may feel the same way about Croker.

Croker is similar to Chris Lawrence of the West Tigers. Both played a lot of games for their clubs, one club men, solid players and good clubmen, blokes who set a good culture but in my opinion not club legends. They are above average players though. Both also tailed off at the end of their careers. When you talk about club legends for the Wests Tigers, it's Benji for the Joint Venture, and Tommy R for Wests, and Wayne Pearce, Roach, Sironen, Elias, Garry Jack for Balmain. It's to be noted Lawrence did play for Australia, and Anasta for NSW and won a premiership in 2004 with Canterbury. But they didn't do much at rep level.

This is total nonsense. Croker didn’t find his way to captaincy from the centres and at a young age because he was solid. Croker carried us for years and was the only player offering much of anything in the darkest periods. Go back and watch some highlights smh. He now sits at number 3 on the ladder of top point scorers of all time (sitting above Jonathan Thurston and below Hasem El Masri) and he did that while spending a career in Canberra. And in the scheme of things, his decline has come sooner than expected.

He is our number one pointscorer of all time by some margin and oversaw our most successful 5 year period in over 20 years. The man is a club legend and to suggest otherwise is ludicrous.

And it took Billy 5000 posts before he produced a good one!

There are actually only 2 parts of Billy's post I disagree with, but one I cant see the sentiment.
1. I do think Croker deserves club legend status. The length of time and all the club records are worth that status.
2. Chris Lawerance... the bloke was too injury prone for the comment, and thus I disagree, BUT, I can see why he is making the comparison, and has picked a player of similar ilk to make it. Not to mention, its VERY clear that the names at the end of the comparison are far superior to both.

What post are you talking about Matt? I haven’t mentioned Croker in this thread. GE jumping at shadows and preemptively defending Croker perhaps? Very odd stuff

Oh... its HK. Oops. Sorry

[Billy Walker]

No worries Matt - Happy to share my views on Croker if you like? I wasn’t going to but GE seems keen to drag me into the conversation.

I think we need to be careful not to be disrespectful comparing internationals to non-international

[Seiffert82]

There's no doubt in my mind that Hodgo was a critical element in turning this club around when he arrived. He was outstanding in 2016-19. He has also suffered a few injuries and is not getting any younger. 2020-21 hasn't been his best work.

The two phases of his time at the club aren't contradictory. It's just how things have played out in my mind.

He's right up there with the best this club has seen. Maybe not for as long as we would have liked, but long enough to be a cornerstone of our best period of footy for 20 years.

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[Seiffert82]

If this move clears the decks for a play at either Brandon Smith or Harry Grant, I'm down with that.

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[Rickmando]

This thread is GH at it's absolute best (or worst, depends how you look at it).

Anyway, sad news, but predictable. I feel Hodgo began our climb to the 2019 GF when he came on board in 2015 - everyone was crowing about Austin that year but I believed Hodgson was our best signing in a long time and he showed it during the following season and 2019 as well. Just a shame there was a big gap between his best and worst.

You can acknowledge all the great work Hodgo has done with us in the past whilst also recognising this is likely the right move for the club going forward. There doesn’t need to be this mentality of “pick a side”.

Are we supposed to just keep rolling players out in green indefinitely? No, you have to assess a player’s value relative to the salary cap and unfortunately for Hodgo his ROI was pretty ordinary the past couple of years.

Applaud the man for his service, get him back for old boys days forever, invite him to blow the horn!! But don’t pay him overs in 2022 to underperform, that’s all this is. I applaud the club making the tough (but correct) call.

[BadnMean]

If this move clears the decks for a play at either Brandon Smith or Harry Grant, I'm down with that.

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Wouldn't that be great.

Seems we are making some space for someone, no idea who though.

I thought Smith had recommitted to Melbourne? Or nothing signed yet?

[Azza]

This thread is GH at it's absolute best (or worst, depends how you look at it).

Anyway, sad news, but predictable. I feel Hodgo began our climb to the 2019 GF when he came on board in 2015 - everyone was crowing about Austin that year but I believed Hodgson was our best signing in a long time and he showed it during the following season and 2019 as well. Just a shame there was a big gap between his best and worst.

You can acknowledge all the great work Hodgo has done with us in the past whilst also recognising this is likely the right move for the club going forward. There doesn’t need to be this mentality of “pick a side”.

Are we supposed to just keep rolling players out in green indefinitely? No, you have to assess a player’s value relative to the salary cap and unfortunately for Hodgo his ROI was pretty ordinary the past couple of years.

Applaud the man for his service, get him back for old boys days forever, invite him to blow the horn!! But don’t pay him overs in 2022 to underperform, that’s all this is. I applaud the club making the tough (but correct) call.

Hang on - when did I say it was the wrong call?

I didn't - but we better have a damn good backup plan

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[-TW-]

No one is devaluing what he did for us when he was fit.

He's now 2 ACLs since his peak, not getting any younger or faster

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[RichmondRaider]

If this move clears the decks for a play at either Brandon Smith or Harry Grant, I'm down with that.

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Not that Smith gronk. Adject violation of no **** policy.

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[Northern Raider]

Looks like this thread is about everything except Hodgo

[Wiki Special]

I am baffled as to why we would pay any freight.

Hodgson doesn’t want to be here, but wants 900k for next year. Worst case he could get it turning up and throwing pumpkins in games.

Raiders don’t want him here next year.

Others clubs might want him, but wouldn’t pay 900k based on what they saw this year.

Add all that together, welcome to the land of paying freight.

The only part I don't understand is why the club wouldn't want him for 2022? Fair enough if he wants to leave and can get say $1.2m/2yrs with the Tigers, absolutely we say he is more than welcome to go. But if he wants his $900K for next year he should be staying and weighing up if he can get the shortfall in 2023 on a 1 year deal - which he would likely be able to, if fit.

[Northern Raider]

I am baffled as to why we would pay any freight.

Hodgson doesn’t want to be here, but wants 900k for next year. Worst case he could get it turning up and throwing pumpkins in games.

Raiders don’t want him here next year.

Others clubs might want him, but wouldn’t pay 900k based on what they saw this year.

Add all that together, welcome to the land of paying freight.

The only part I don't understand is why the club wouldn't want him for 2022? Fair enough if he wants to leave and can get say $1.2m/2yrs with the Tigers, absolutely we say he is more than welcome to go. But if he wants his $900K for next year he should be staying and weighing up if he can get the shortfall in 2023 on a 1 year deal - which he would likely be able to, if fit.

Tigers taking his contract and freeing up around $600k of our cap is not a bad outcome for us considering he was unlikely to be here beyond 2022. That's a decent amount to pick up someone through the off-season that might come available.

[Rickmando]

This thread is GH at it's absolute best (or worst, depends how you look at it).

Anyway, sad news, but predictable. I feel Hodgo began our climb to the 2019 GF when he came on board in 2015 - everyone was crowing about Austin that year but I believed Hodgson was our best signing in a long time and he showed it during the following season and 2019 as well. Just a shame there was a big gap between his best and worst.

You can acknowledge all the great work Hodgo has done with us in the past whilst also recognising this is likely the right move for the club going forward. There doesn’t need to be this mentality of “pick a side”.

Are we supposed to just keep rolling players out in green indefinitely? No, you have to assess a player’s value relative to the salary cap and unfortunately for Hodgo his ROI was pretty ordinary the past couple of years.

Applaud the man for his service, get him back for old boys days forever, invite him to blow the horn!! But don’t pay him overs in 2022 to underperform, that’s all this is. I applaud the club making the tough (but correct) call.

Hang on - when did I say it was the wrong call?

I didn't - but we better have a damn good backup plan

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Sorry, didn’t meant to read “you” as in specifically you individually.

But in general my point is that agreeing with the football/business decision should be separated from the nostalgia of the player’s previous service.

[Raiders666]

This thread is GH at it's absolute best (or worst, depends how you look at it).

Anyway, sad news, but predictable. I feel Hodgo began our climb to the 2019 GF when he came on board in 2015 - everyone was crowing about Austin that year but I believed Hodgson was our best signing in a long time and he showed it during the following season and 2019 as well. Just a shame there was a big gap between his best and worst.

You can acknowledge all the great work Hodgo has done with us in the past whilst also recognising this is likely the right move for the club going forward. There doesn’t need to be this mentality of “pick a side”.

Are we supposed to just keep rolling players out in green indefinitely? No, you have to assess a player’s value relative to the salary cap and unfortunately for Hodgo his ROI was pretty ordinary the past couple of years.

Applaud the man for his service, get him back for old boys days forever, invite him to blow the horn!! But don’t pay him overs in 2022 to underperform, that’s all this is. I applaud the club making the tough (but correct) call.

Hang on - when did I say it was the wrong call?

I didn't - but we better have a damn good backup plan

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

Sorry, didn’t meant to read “you” as in specifically you individually.

But in general my point is that agreeing with the football/business decision should be separated from the nostalgia of the player’s previous service.

So Ricky did something good?

[Raiders666]

If this move clears the decks for a play at either Brandon Smith or Harry Grant, I'm down with that.

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Not that Smith gronk. Adject violation of no **** policy.

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This can't be serious

[Billy Walker]

If this move clears the decks for a play at either Brandon Smith or Harry Grant, I'm down with that.

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Not that Smith gronk. Adject violation of no **** policy.

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This can't be serious

I’m with Richmond on this - great footballer but questionable person - high risk of more harm than good

[sprintman]

Tigers GM Hartigan walked. Sheens sure ain’t mucking about..

[FROG]

Imo Jacks antics were infinitely worse than Smith's. Not excusing his behavioral just calling out that if you could forgive Jack then I struggle to see how you can object to signing Smith.

[Botman]

If the raiders start knocking back players because they’ve dabbled in coke, we might have to reinvent ourselves as a junior footy team and play in the u12’s to field a team

[Raiders666]

I'd say about 70% of NRL players get on the nose beers..That's talking from own experience with them

[Billy Walker]

If the raiders start knocking back players because they’ve dabbled in coke, we might have to reinvent ourselves as a junior footy team and play in the u12’s to field a team

Not just the coke for me - he’s massively immature.

[Northern Raider]

If the raiders start knocking back players because they’ve dabbled in coke, we might have to reinvent ourselves as a junior footy team and play in the u12’s to field a team

Something about glass houses

[Raiders666]

If the raiders start knocking back players because they’ve dabbled in coke, we might have to reinvent ourselves as a junior footy team and play in the u12’s to field a team

Not just the coke for me - he’s massively immature.

What exactly has he done wrong ?

[BadnMean]

What did Smith ever do to mark him as a bad person in some peoples eyes. Sure he got too loose after the GF and had a toot. But he wasn't bothering anyone but his own sinuses.

[Raiders666]

Can't have fun...Must be a robot

[Seiffert82]

If this move clears the decks for a play at either Brandon Smith or Harry Grant, I'm down with that.

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Wouldn't that be great.

Seems we are making some space for someone, no idea who though.

I thought Smith had recommitted to Melbourne? Or nothing signed yet?

Yeah, doesn't look like it. Maybe the snow blowing situation put paid to a recent announcement?

It's a bit unclear.

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[Azza]

Well we must have a plan. If we are silly enough to let Hodgo go without an alternative we are in big trouble.

[Azza]

If the raiders start knocking back players because they’ve dabbled in coke, we might have to reinvent ourselves as a junior footy team and play in the u12’s to field a team

Not just the coke for me - he’s massively immature.

Fair. But by the same token, it's Rugbah League. Maturity of the players is not a strong point

[greeneyed]

If we've created the space for Brandon Smith... that would be a masterstroke in recruitment. Can forgive one indiscretion, with recreational drugs, provided the ground rules are clear to him. We've recruited players with a worse history of indiscretions.

[Azza]

Yeah GH I reckon the Smith thing has legs. I don't think the two hooker thing at the Storm is sustainable long term (i.e., neither will want to play backup / alternate long term).