Eels recruit Josh Hodgson has revealed the desire to have no regrets forced him to reject a retirement payout as he opened up on his reasons for ending his stay at the Raiders.
The Daily Telegraph reported Hodgson never considered medical retirement and a payout from the Eels after he underwent major knee surgery after signing with Parramatta.
“The easy road would have been to retire,” Hodgson told The Daily Telegraph.
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“At 33 after my third knee people would’ve pulled the pin, getting a pay out to sit on the beach and drink a beer instead of working your ass off.
“I want to win. A person who has hunger is more dangerous than someone who wants to take the easy way out.”
Hodgson has played all 138 games of his NRL career to date with the Raiders, but chose to move on from the club for a number of reasons.
Firstly, he didn’t want to block the next wave of talented juniors coming through at the Raiders, while he also had a desire to move back into a full-time dummyhalf role after playing big minutes at lock at the back end of his Canberra career.
“I felt like the next wave of kids were coming through at Canberra,” Hodgson said.
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“I love the club and didn’t want to leave them in the lurch, but I felt like they were in good hands.
“In 2021 I was playing good footy, but I was playing 60 minutes at loose forward after starting the game at nine.
“I didn’t want to transition into a loose forward. I wanted to be one of the best nines in the game and I was seeking out a challenge to do that.”
Hodgson believes his style of play will suit the Eels’ big forwards led by twin towers Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who are similar to the stars he had around him at Canberra.
“I can help Parramatta in the middle,” Hodgson said.
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“I loved working with big middles like Josh Papalii, Joe Tapine and Shannon Boyd. People like that are good to play off your hip.”
Hodgson comes to a club coming off the agony of grand final defeat, which he knows well having never won a grand final, despite getting close to premiership glory with the Raiders against the Roosters in 2019.
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It is that burning desire to lift the trophy that has kept Hodgson going through a number of tough years with injury.
“Losing gives you this feeling that has stuck with me every day,” Hodgson said.
“Still to this day. It gives you this weird motivation that it was within touching distance, so I know exactly how they’re feeling.
“I’ve never won a grand final. If I retired and didn’t work as hard as I could to win one then I would have regrets.”
