Brisbane Broncos book place in NRL grand final

Hodges beat the grade one charge, handed down following his tackle on Sydney Roosters back rower Aidan Guerra in last Friday night’s preliminary final, clearing him to lead the Broncos against the Cowboys at Sydney’s Olympic stadium on Sunday.

‘It’s clear what I was aiming to get out of it and that was a penalty, ‘ Guerra said.

George Burgess and Greg Bird have suffered harshly at the NRL judiciary this season and say for Justin Hodges or any player to miss a grand final is deeply unfair.

Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan told APN the club did not have a problem with Guerra giving evidence before the judiciary on behalf of Hodges.

In a tense hearing that lasted 76 minutes, the Broncos veteran was found not guilty of the offence by the judiciary panel and will line up against North Queensland at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.

“I said to (Guerra) after the charge that this is the way I felt about the tackle and if you feel the same you can come (and testify)”.

Yes, I know, the Cowboys conceded zero points against Cronulla in week two of the finals, but that was understandable because the Sharks literally had nothing.

Not even Bennett could have predicted a grand final appearance when he first made his return to Brisbane.

“I wonder if reasonable is going to govern which typically tackle”, he was quoted saying when meet on Friday.

It seemed nothing could go wrong for Brisbane in the grand final decider against the minor premiers, with fullback Darius Boyd scoring an opening-minute intercept try thanks to a Shaun Kenny-Dowall brain snap.

“Well I’m still able bodied”, Guerra replied.

“He came here to speak the truth, I didn’t ask him to come here and lie”, Hodges said.

Hodges’ defence counsel Nick Ghabar said that was primarily Guerra’s fault.

“He jumps. He’s on one leg, he jumps up”, Johns said of Guerra.