NEARLY two years since badly breaking his right leg at Bracknell, there is light at the end of the tunnel for Wharfedale's Andy Hodgson (writes Mike Crowther).

Few players have spent more time on the treatment table than the former Greens' skipper. The spiral fracture he sustained in January 2004 was the third time he has broken his leg and the 29-year-old has suffered a catalogue of other injuries besides.

However, he is hoping that his longest spell of all on the sidelines is coming to an end. Hodgson is due to step up the light training he's been doing over the last few months and his goal is to be back playing in some capacity by Christmas.

He said: "I'm just hoping to start a game, I'm not bothered where. Whether I've got enough to play first team, I don't know. I might look to finish in the second team this season and build for the year after."

If anyone deserves an injury-free run, it is Hodgson, who reckons he's spent as much as time in the physio room as he has on the pitch.

His broken leg at Bracknell came after an innocuous-looking tackle from their blindside flanker which caused him to turn awkwardly.

Freakishly, Dale player Craig Eccleston also suffered a compound fracture of the leg after being tackled by the same player on the same part of the pitch in the corresponding fixture at Bracknell the year before.

For Hodgson, it was the second time he had broken his right leg, having also broken it against Paris St Germain in 1997 during his two-year spell at the Bradford Bulls. He also broke his left ankle playing for Yorkshire in May 2000.

Having had long lay-offs before, Hodgson is well aware of the dangers of rushing back too soon.

"It would be very easy for me to push myself too hard to get back playing. This time, I thought, let's get everything else fixed first," said the full back. He has also had anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction on his knee which has added an extra six months to his rehabiliatation period.

Hodgson became an official member of the coaching set-up at Wharfedale this season after Michael Harrison and Peter Hartley stepped aside.

He had already been helping out with training last season and said his role had helped him avoid making a comeback too soon.

"If I were not coaching, I would have been tempted to rush back. Instead I'm sat in the car thinking, what drills are we going to do at training? What's happening with the team this Saturday? It helps take your mind of it."

Hodgson admits his coaching qualifications amount to very little on paper. But he is able to draw on a wealth of experience gained from working with coaches Matthew Elliott and Brian Noble at the Bulls and, of course, Harrison and Hartley at the Avenue.

As coach of the backs, Hodgson certainly has plenty of talent at his disposal, including three Yorkshire under-20 players and England Counties' player Chris Malherbe.

The problem to date has been finding the right combination between them. Rarely has the same back line featured in consecutive games and Hodgson believes it is time to stick with a formula or risk confusing players.

On Dale's mixed start to the season which has seen them draw three out of seven games, he said: "From the players' point of view, it's been very disappointing. We're scoring quite a lot of tries and had a lot of the pressure in games but things haven't quite gone for us. Hopefully, it will click and we'll destroy someone."

Hodgson said a failing had been the Greens' inability to play for a full 80 minutes.

"For 60 minutes, we'll play good rugby, but for the other 20, we mentally switch off and we need to correct that.

"If a team scores against us, they go on and get two or three tries and get on a roll."

With John Lawn effectively retired and other experienced players Hedley Verity and Jonathan Davies not featuring much so far this season, Dale have not had many old heads to steady the ship when needed. According to Hodgson, they only just had sufficient players old enough to drive hire-cars down to Penzance last week!

Someone of the calibre of a fully-fit Andy Hodgson - national two player of the year in 2000 - would, of course, add valuable experience.

But the player knows it's far too early to be thinking in such terms. After such a bad injury, John Lawn has already as good as ruled him out in his mind as a first-team option this season.

Hodgson is keen to take things slowly and is even prepared for the worst should his comeback prove to be unsuccessful and he is told to stop playing.

But if he gets through his first few games unscathed, he knows his appetite for action will return.

"Once I get back playing, my ambition will probably go through the roof and I'll be saying, put me in the first team!"

And if that happens, whether it's this season or next, 'Hodg' can be sure of a rapturous welcome back from the Avenue faithful for a player who has been badly missed.