Hodgson all class as Warriors walloped
“I DON’T think I’ve seen him play better.”
That was the stunning praise from one of the NRL’S greatest ever hookers Danny Buderus last night for Canberra’s livewire No. 9 Josh Hodgson.
In Hodgson’s 100th NRL match, the little Englishman turned on an absolute masterclass in a 46-12 flogging of the New Zealand Warriors.
It sets up a mouth-watering showdown with reigning premiers the Sydney Roosters in Canberra next Sunday.
Hodgson orchestrated a crushing eight tries to two demolition, with the crafty dummy half scoring one try and instrumental in at least four others.
Buderus was blown away, declaring Hodgson’s form now is even better than it was in 2016 when the Raiders finished second.
“It was the most effective (performance) I have seen from him,” Buderus said on Fox Sports.
The Raiders’ win pushes them into second spot on the live NRL ladder on 28 competition points with South Sydney, although the Rabbitohs and Roosters could claw back ahead of them with wins this weekend.
While the Canberra players deserve plenty of credit, so does the coach.
As second rate as some of the Warriors’ defence was, you couldn’t help but just sit back and enjoy the breathtaking performance of Ricky Stuart’s team that not many tipsters even had in their top eight at the start of the season.
What can’t be disputed is that the Raiders are the real deal – and the match against the Roosters could be one of the highlights of the season.
The last time the Raiders played the Roosters was at Suncorp Stadium in early May when they almost produced a miracle comeback after a dreadful start.
• For last night’s Broncos v Storm result go to townsvillebulletin.com.au