England hooker Josh Hodgson thought party door-smashing was a joke

The England hooker Josh Hodgson began the task of mending his reputation when he reported for pre-season training with Canberra Raiders.

The former Hull KR co-captain passed up an offer from the Raiders coach Ricky Stuart to take a break at the end of England’s Four Nations campaign in order to start work with his new club and immediately pledged to demonstrate his recent actions on and off the pitch are not a true reflection of his character.

Hodgson made his Test debut in England’s opening Four Nations match with Samoa last month and also featured in the defeat to Australia, but was dropped for the decisive game against New Zealand last Saturday and made the headlines the following morning for his door-smashing antics during a party at a student flat in Dunedin.

England said Hodgson was disciplined over the incident while the Canberra chief executive, Don Furner, described the player’s actions as unacceptable.

“I’m only human and I made a mistake,” Hodgson told Raiders TV. “I’ll learn from that. I like to think I’m a professional bloke. I’m not going to worry too much about it. It was nothing malicious, I thought it was a joke and there would be nothing more from it.”

The 25-year-old, who has signed a two-year contract with Canberra, said he was disappointed with his two performances for England. “I loved making my debut. I was probably way off the standards I normally set myself, maybe that was something to do with not playing for about six weeks. I felt rusty but I was hugely honoured to play for my country and nobody can take that away from me.”

Hodgson went through testing at the club on Wednesday and met the bulk of his new team-mates for the first time on Thursday. “I could have had a bit more time off but I want to make a good impression on everyone and I don’t want to be too far behind come the start of the season. I want to be at the front of the pack and as fit as all the other boys.”