Hodgson form worry for Eels boss

Brad Arthur is facing a big selection decision relating to what to do with a player who was supposed to be one of club’s key signings this season.

Josh Hodgson’s worrying form was overshadowed in the post-match that surrounded the hip drop controversy, with the non-sin binning of Brisbane’s Payne Haas combined with the nasty injury to Reagan Campbell-gillard hogging the spotlight.

But almost as concerning from the Eels’ fans perspective was that after a poor start the veteran was replaced in the 31st minute and did not return.

Instead, Arthur stuck with young gun Brendan Hands, with the Eels clearly playing their best football when the 22-year-old was on the park.

Hodgson missed the previous week’s win over the Bulldogs with flu, so he could have been struggling in the Darwin conditions.

The loss of CampbellGillard would have also thrown Arthur’s bench rotation out of whack.

But there is no hiding from the fact Hodgson has been struggling, and it was a big call not having him on field when the game was on the line.

Not only is his dummy half play still a long way from his best, but he missed some bad tackles that cost his team.

The question now is does Arthur stick with Hands for Friday night’s game against the rejuvenated Newcastle Knights and play Hodgson off the bench?

Or does he continue to back the out-of-form Englishman?

There is also a school of thought it might take the pressure off Hodgson to give him a spell in NSW Cup so he can work on his game away.

In fairness to the 33-yearold, everyone expected he would take time to return to his best this season after his second ACL knee injury.

But that does not help the Eels right now with last year’s grand finalists scoring only three wins from eight games.

When the Eels signed Hodgson to replace Reed Mahoney this year it sparked a lot of debate given his age and injury history.

So far you would have to say Mahoney has been the Eels’ biggest loss, even more so than key forwards Isaiah Papali’i and Marata Niukore.