ON-FIRE HODGO REACHES 50 FORCE CAPS
Matt Hodgson becomes the third Emirates Western Force player to 50 caps on Good Friday and he could just welcome back his backrow partner David Pocock for the occasion.
Hodgson will join Tai McIsaac and Nathan Sharpe as players to have made 50 appearances with the Emirates Western Force when he runs out onto ME Bank Stadium on Friday night against the Stormers, but it's a wait and see game as to whether or not Pocock will join him.
Pocock has been out with a finger tendon injury since the opening week game against the Brumbies and since Hodgson has assumed the No. 7 jersey and played incredibly well.
His form suggests he could step up to the role with the Wallabies as well and Hodgson has continued from where he left off as the Force Player of the Year in 2009, but Pocock is the incumbent No. 7 both with the Force and Wallabies.
Either way, Hodgson would be glad to see Pocock back this week, but if he's not he knows that Ben McCalman and Richard Stanford are more than capable of continuing to perform.
"One of the strong points of the Force is that we have a lot of strong backrow players from Richard Brown to Dave Pocock to myself, and then you've got Ben McCalman and Richard Stanford who have been playing and going quite well," Hodgson said.
"Hopefully he gets up and I'm not sure where he's going to play at the moment but there could be a fight over the No. 7 jersey. Hopefully he will be back on the field somewhere though. Poey is such a great player and he's been training hard since he's been out injured, so I think he will get through training and then see how he goes."
Hodgson is proud to have now reached 50 caps with the Perth-based franchise and in the last two years with the starting opportunities he has received he has confirmed himself as one of the very best flankers in the world.
He is desperate for a Force victory and is confident that can come against the second-placed Stormers on Good Friday if they play how they have the last two weeks.
"I will become the third member to get 50 games for the Force and I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully it turns out to be a win," he said.
"Definitely there were signs of improvement in last week's game and our defence is improving week by week, so we just have to control our ball retention this week and focus on us again by backing our defence. If we do that, improvement will come and a win is just around the corner."
Hodgson is happy to keep the Force's tradition of playing on Good Friday going and while the morale of the group remains high, he wants to reward the loyal fans with a win.
"We are a close-knit group because most of us have moved over here, so we all hang out on and off the field, so the morale is quite good between our group," Hodgson said.
"It seems to be a tradition that we are keeping up at the moment and we quite enjoy it. It's just another game for us now. The crowd the last two weeks has been really good for us by backing us so we hope to repay them in the next couple of weeks by getting some good results."
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