Maroons' Hodges on ice after injury - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Maroons' Hodges on ice after injury

By Wayne Heming 30/06/2011 07:06:52 PM Comments (0)

Justin Hodges hamstring curse resurfaced on Thursday, forcing the Queensland star to quit training early for treatment, six days out from his first State of Origin league game since 2009.

While news their strike weapon Hodges had "felt a twinge in his good hammy" will draw a collective groan from Queenslanders, the initial word out of the Maroons' camp was that it was "not serious", even though he was whisked away to ice the injury and start physio.

Team doctor Roy Saunders said there was absolutely no evidence to suggest Hodges had done any damage to his left hamstring.

"He felt a little tight in the hamstring at training, whether it was a cramp or just some tightness we're not sure," Dr Saunders told AAP.

"But there's no evidence of a tear and he won't be having any scans.

"We'll treat him and monitor him but all we've got is he pulled up feeling a little tight in his hammy.

"It's more precautionary than anything. Given his hamstring history, we're being obsessively cautious."

After missing out on the services of damaging forward Dave Taylor, who was suspended on Wednesday night, Queensland can ill afford to also lose a player of Hodges' experience and intimidation, with and without the football.

Hodges has a worrying history of hamstring issues.

He only returned from his latest hamstring episode six days ago against South Sydney in a NRL clash in atrocious conditions in Perth.

Before that, he'd been sidelined with a low-grade hamstring tear, suffered playing against Penrith in May, the week after making his Test return against New Zealand.

Fortunately for Queensland, Melbourne centre Dane Nielsen, who played in the first two Origin clashes, is in camp as the Maroons' 18th man as insurance for Hodges and Greg Inglis, who came into the squad with a minor shoulder injury.

Hodges' Origin career has been littered with injury, restricting him to just 11 games since his infamous debut in 2002.

His ability to make big metres out of dummy half with his right-foot step and fend, along with the way he shuts down attacks by jamming up in defence or sliding at the right time, were seen as major bonuses for Queensland.

His combination on the right edge with Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday and Jharal Yow Yeh was another plus.

Queensland are expecting Hodges to play despite his latest injury scare.

Lockyer, meanwhile, said an unprecedented media blackout over the weekend, in which the players will be off limits and training closed, will help the team focus on what they need to do on Wednesday night.

"We'll be back on Monday. We just need some time over the weekend to work on some things without any distractions," he said.

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

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