Roosters rue another missed opportunity

Brad Fittler says he’d been told Justin Hodges is only a 50-50 chance of being available for Sunday’s grand final against North Queensland after the Broncos skipper was charged with a grade one unsafe throw against the Roosters on Friday night.

Broncos fullback Darius Boyd couldn’t believe his luck when he plucked an intercept try to score in the first minute of the match against the Roosters.

The Broncos went into the break 20-12 up after lanky winger Corey Oates dived over in the corner.

Hodges was charged for his tackle on Roosters forward Aiden Guerra in the 57th minute of the Broncos 31-12 victory in the Preliminary Final at Suncorp Stadium.

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett – now in sight of his seventh title for Brisbane and eighth overall – wasn’t losing any sleep. But what he has delivered is the ideal structure, allowing his attacking players to play with the ball.

“I am not overly anxious about it”, he said.

The Roosters welcome back Origin half-back, Mitchel Pearce, following a hamstring injury.

“If we stick to what we know and there’s only a few points in the game with 10 to 15 minutes to go, I know which side I want to be on”, the seven-time premiership-winning coach said.

“Obviously it was not a great moment”, Robinson said.

The opening 40 minutes was most probably the best we have seen this season.

Instead, Hodges now needs to end the ambitions of his former club to keep alive his own dream of bowing out with a grand final appearance.

After Andrew Johns declared on the Sunday Footy Show that “there is no way in the world he can miss a grand final for that”.