A QUICK glance at Canberra’s hooking stocks at the moment paints a grim picture for anyone barracking for the green machine.

As it stands it’s a race in two between recruits Siliva Havili and Craig Garvey for the club’s No.9 jumper.

They’ve played a total 47 NRL games between them and have only ever been used as stop-gap solutions at previous clubs.

Now they’ve been handed the keys to Ricky Stuart’s Ferrari, and the road ahead is windy and full of potholes.

Round 19

But coach Sticky is lucky enough to have a helping hand in his mission to turn these two rookie rakes into genuine NRL-calibre hookers.

The man in question has more than 200 first grade games to his name across two continents, as well as 13 caps for England.

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Siliva Havili in action for St George Illawarra. Source: Getty Images

Josh Hodgson is one of the best in the business.

It’s his knee injury while representing England during the World Cup that has the Raiders in such a dire situation.

The off-season departure of fellow World Cup rake Kurt Baptiste exacerbates the problem.

But out of Hodgson’s pain comes the opportunity for two men to step up and make a fist of their latest NRL lifeline.

And he’s taken on the role of coach in a switch that could save the club’s season.

“It’s been good — Ricky and Mick (Crawley) and Brett (White) and Steve Babic have kept me really involved,” Hodgson told foxsports.com.au.

GET ON BOARD: Ace up Sticky’s sleeve in securing star halves

“It’s certainly helped being able to do a bit of work with the boys instead of sitting on the sideline watching.

“I’ve been doing bits with (Havili and Garvey) during the week (but) especially early days you don’t want to be giving them too much information too soon.

“They’ve just come to a new club and they’re still learning all the names for moves, all the calls, and the way we play in Canberra.

“At the minute it’s really simple and teaching them little aspects we think they can improve on and certain ways that a couple of our boys play.

England’s Josh Hodgson in action at the World Cup. Source: AFP

“Nothing too major, just really small things to start with and then once they get settled and get into the habits of how we play and what their role is, then we’ll expand a bit more.”

For Hodgson, the extra coaching role is the perfect way to get him more involved around the playing group while he’s in rehabilitation.

He ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament during the World Cup and is facing at least six months on the sideline.

It’s the first long-term injury he’s suffered in almost a decade of professional sport, and he admits there’s been plenty of low moments since he collapsed on the field in November.

But an Instagram post last week is cause for excitement among Canberra faithful.

Hodgson had his first run on an AlterG machine just one month after having surgery on the busted joint.

He ran at 50 per cent body weight. He’ll slowly increase the weight and the speed of the runs until he can resume straight-line running on a hard surface.

“Looking at the scans from when I first did it I was pretty lucky with the tear, because usually you can have a bit of medial damage or meniscus damage,” he said.

“It’s been pretty good so far ... we had a minor setback where the scar tissue tore in the hamstring, but that’s pretty normal.

“There’s been no problems ... it’s just a slow process with building up the pace, then once you get to a certain speed we’ll add 10 per cent weight until we get to that speed again.

“It’s a slow process but you’ve got to do it.”

Hodgson and the Raiders medical staff aren’t prepared to place a timeline on his recovery, given the number of factors out omf their control.

If all goes to plan he could be back out wearing the lime green by May.