HODGSON WILL PLAY

CANBERRA co-captain Josh Hodgson rejoined his teammates yesterday as they travelled to Sydney for the club’s drought-breaking NRL Grand Final.

Hodgson (above) missed training on Tuesday with a virus, but assistant coach Brett White said the star hooker would play against Sydney Roosters at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

The Raiders are in their first grand final since coach Ricky Stuart led the Green Machine to its last premiership as a player in 1994.

White backed an upset against the reigning premiers and said Hodgson’s leadership would play a crucial role.

“The medical staff will keep an eye on (Hodgson) through the week and assess him every day, but it’s good to see him back at training this morning,” White said yesterday.

“I’ve got no doubt the medical guys and Hodgo will do everything to make sure he is, if not close to, (100 per cent) fit. The way he gets the boys around the field, this year I think he’s become one of the best leaders in the competition.”

Hundreds of Canberra fans gathered to farewell the team bus yesterday as the Raiders set off in search of a first title in 25 years. Star second-rower John Bateman received rousing applause as he boarded, despite his controversial contract comments on Tuesday.

The England international said he would look elsewhere if the Raiders did not upgrade his $400,000-a-season deal, but later tweeted he wanted to stay.

“He probably got tripped up there and John addressed that on Twitter last night. He came out and squashed all that pretty quick,” White said.

The Raiders will be based in the city centre and White said they would embrace Sydney’s intense NRL media gaze.

“This is a fantastic occasion, this is something you’ll remember for years so we’re going to soak it up and enjoy it; we don’t want to hide away from it, we want to be a part of it,” he said. “We’ve been good all year being able to switch on and switch off. As the week goes on, we’ll narrow our focus into the game.”