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Hunt ruled out and Hodges in doubt for Broncos NRL clash with Manly
By Wayne Heming
May 09, 2009 Brisbane Broncos coach Ivan Henjak has lost fullback Karmichael Hunt, while centre Justin Hodges is in doubt, ahead of Sunday's NRL match against Manly at Suncorp Stadium.
Hunt is battling a deep thigh cork and may even be a week or two away from playing again.
Brisbane have four players: Hodges, skipper Darren Lockyer, winger Israel Folau and City Origin halfback Peter Wallace backing up from Friday night representative duties.
Hodges made a successful two-try comeback for the Kangaroos in Australia's 38-10 Test win over New Zealand while Wallace all but confirmed his selection in NSW's Origin side with a man-of-the-match performance in Orange.
Henjak is banking on Lockyer, Wallace and Folau playing but concedes Hodges, who has a "tight" hamstring, is in doubt.
The Sea Eagles are in a similar boat with six players backing up from representative duty.
Henjak trained without his four stars on Saturday and said he would finalise his side after the representative quartet had a light run tomorrow morning.
"Hodgo has a tight hammy, I guess you could say he is in a bit of doubt," Henjak said.
"Karmichael obviously didn't get through this morning either."
18-year-old rookie Gerard Beale trained in Hunt's position today and is poised to make his first grade debut.
Another youngster, Alex Glenn, called into Kiwi camp before the Test as their 18th man, trained in Hodges right centre spot.
Former Dragon Tom Hewitt, who hasn't made an appearance for Brisbane since joining them in 2008, trained on the wing.
Henjak appears concerned about putting too much stress on his 32-year-old skipper or Hodges with a big Origin campaign just around the corner.
"I don't want to put anyone at risk of injury, we're all worried about burnout.
"The demands on players now days is greater than ever.
"Guys that have been playing 13, 14 years in the NRL, it's a real risk for them and we're very conscious of that."
Manly, bottom of the ladder, don't have the luxury of being able to rest players and another loss on Sunday could just about kill off their season.
"They're not that far out of the eight, only a couple of wins,'' Henjak said.
"They're searching for confidence and some motivation to kick on and we certainly don't want to be the team that plays them back into form.''
By Wayne Heming
May 09, 2009 Brisbane Broncos coach Ivan Henjak has lost fullback Karmichael Hunt, while centre Justin Hodges is in doubt, ahead of Sunday's NRL match against Manly at Suncorp Stadium.
Hunt is battling a deep thigh cork and may even be a week or two away from playing again.
Brisbane have four players: Hodges, skipper Darren Lockyer, winger Israel Folau and City Origin halfback Peter Wallace backing up from Friday night representative duties.
Hodges made a successful two-try comeback for the Kangaroos in Australia's 38-10 Test win over New Zealand while Wallace all but confirmed his selection in NSW's Origin side with a man-of-the-match performance in Orange.
Henjak is banking on Lockyer, Wallace and Folau playing but concedes Hodges, who has a "tight" hamstring, is in doubt.
The Sea Eagles are in a similar boat with six players backing up from representative duty.
Henjak trained without his four stars on Saturday and said he would finalise his side after the representative quartet had a light run tomorrow morning.
"Hodgo has a tight hammy, I guess you could say he is in a bit of doubt," Henjak said.
"Karmichael obviously didn't get through this morning either."
18-year-old rookie Gerard Beale trained in Hunt's position today and is poised to make his first grade debut.
Another youngster, Alex Glenn, called into Kiwi camp before the Test as their 18th man, trained in Hodges right centre spot.
Former Dragon Tom Hewitt, who hasn't made an appearance for Brisbane since joining them in 2008, trained on the wing.
Henjak appears concerned about putting too much stress on his 32-year-old skipper or Hodges with a big Origin campaign just around the corner.
"I don't want to put anyone at risk of injury, we're all worried about burnout.
"The demands on players now days is greater than ever.
"Guys that have been playing 13, 14 years in the NRL, it's a real risk for them and we're very conscious of that."
Manly, bottom of the ladder, don't have the luxury of being able to rest players and another loss on Sunday could just about kill off their season.
"They're not that far out of the eight, only a couple of wins,'' Henjak said.
"They're searching for confidence and some motivation to kick on and we certainly don't want to be the team that plays them back into form.''
