Rookie Blues halfback Trent Hodkinson impressed coach Laurie Daley enough to be swept into the side in an attempt to arrest Queenslands eight-year winning streak, and in his short time in the Blues camp hes kept winning over the people that matter – his teammates. NSW vice-captain Robbie Farah says the new halves – Hodkinson and his Bulldogs teammate Josh Reynolds – have really taken control during training session and their talk has been great, which has been appreciated by the forwards. [Hodkinson] is there for a reason and has been picked because we are confident he can do the job, Farah said. We’ve got full confidence in Hodko and in Grub [Reynolds]. They’ve been playing great footy at club level and theyre leading the comp for a reason. From all the signs at training they’ve been going great guns and were confident we can take that into Wednesday night. Farah played with Hodkinson for City in 2009 and says that experience was enough to convince him Hodkinson is a calm character who doesnt get flustered and is tough in defence. Hes a proper halfback, hes directing us around the park, his service is great and his kicking game is spot on, which is important in Origin, Farah said. It’s important we get the end of our sets right, it’s so crucial. It’s probably an area in the last few years where we have let ourselves down. It’s such a key factor in big games that your end to the sets are spot on, that’s a massive advantage to his game. He has definitely matured. You can tell within himself he is a lot more confident and comfortable as a player. Hes stepped in from day one and felt like he has belonged as a player. Laurie told them to take control and own the team, it’s their team and theyve been great. No complaints from me, they are going great. Second-rower Ryan Hoffman was also effusive when it comes to Hodkinson. When asked about the likelihood of Queensland targeting him in defence, Hoffman said: Trents always been a strong defender. Hes been a very strong defender at the Dogs and Manly and Ive got all the confidence in the world in him and as long as Im doing my job and were getting our boys in front were doing our role for the team. I know hes going to do his job by tackling and getting his body in front and Ill get in there and help when the opportunity arises. As for Hodkinson himself, he was as calm and unflustered as his teammates suggest when he spoke to NRL about his impending Origin debut. Trainings been real positive, we had our first run [on the Wednesday] going through our plays and it was a bit of a lighter session but it was nice and sharp, then day two was up another level, he said. Everyones on the same page, everyones been talking and putting in and theyve been going well. He said from his point of view, Wednesday cant come soon enough. Its probably going to come around pretty quickly. Im just going to soak it all up, Im not going to listen to too much outside of what were here to do. Were in camp, Im just going to bunker down and Im looking forward to it.
Posted on: Sat, 24 May 2014 23:52:24 +0000