In victory over Nottingham Forest, the Molineux reaction to the 20-year-old’s cynical, but tactical foul on Neco Williams was bettered only by the penalty contributions of Ruben Neves and Jose Sa – if people didn’t know Hodge at 3pm, they certainly did come 5pm on Saturday 15th October.
When paralleled against other members of the club’s hugely successful under-21s group of the past 12 months, few have spent less time at Molineux than Hodge, but his impact has been bigger than most, leading to his progression into the first-team.
Following the well-trodden path from Manchester City to Wolves’ academy, which Owen Hesketh and Harvey Griffiths have also travelled, Hodge arrived with a glowing endorsement from within the club, via former Wolves technical director Scott Sellars, who spent five years coaching City’s youngers earlier in his football career.
When the news filtered through of the midfielder’s clouded future in the north west, it spiked the interest of Sellars. Hodge was injured, his spine was damaged, but Wolves looked past that, because they believed they’d guide him back to fitness and reap the benefits of his undoubted talent in the future.
Sellars said: “I’ve known Joe since he was eight – I signed him for Man City as an eight-year-old, so I know him really well and he’s always had lots of potential. He’s got a fantastic personality and work ethic.
“I left Man City but monitored his progress and found out later on in his career that he was available on a free transfer. Knowing Joe and his potential, it was a no brainer, so I decided to sign him for Wolves.
“He was in the same team at Man City as James McAtee, CJ Egan-Riley and Owen Hesketh, so it was a really strong group and probably one of the best I’ve seen. It was always interesting to see how they developed. They’re not all going to get through at City, so you’re always trying to speak to people and find out who’s available.
“They’ve come through, had good coaching and a good environment. You look and think what you might have to do to get him to our club – there’s a difference in how we play and always an adjustment. I always thought he had an unbelievable mentality to be successful. No matter what Joe would’ve done, he would give everything he’s got to get there.”
Two former Man City players combine!
— Wolves Academy (@WolvesAcademy) October 2, 2022
Harvey Griffiths plays in Joe Hodge to give us the lead.
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Hodge’s unveiling as a Wolves player only arrived 15 months ago. The majority within the club’s system arrive before the age of 18, unlike Hodge, but each case is unique. The differences in recruitment processes between him and both Chem Campbell and Hugo Bueno, who’ve made a similarly impressive impact on the first-team recently, are vast.
Campbell was 13 when snapped from Birmingham City, while Bueno arrived from Spain closer to Hodge’s age, displaying the wide scouting network the flexibility Wolves are willing to show in order to build the highest quality academy group.
For Jon Hunter-Barrett, academy manager for football, all factors need to be considered when recruiting, and the element of risk must be in the club’s favour, but the second they step through the gates at Compton Park, development is the priority.
Hunter-Barrett said: “It’s always important, whatever stage you come into the programme, that you have some time here to develop individuals and push them onto the next part of their journey. This is why, I’ve always said, people choose to come to Wolves.
“We look at what’s going to make them, what’s going to stop them and try and put as much as we can in place to support them and provide them with that opportunity. Then, ultimately, it’s down to them.”
The element of risk in Hodge’s case was entirely linked to his back injury. There was no doubting the player, nor the attitude or application, but whether the injury could have a lasting impact on the potential he could reach in the future.
Sellars and Hunter-Barrett were part of the conversations with the club’s medical department, who did the due diligence and, assured Hodge could recover fully from his recent operation and be available for selection for James Collins’ under-21s side, gave the green light.
For Sellars, the link to him and Hodge extended to his own experiences, having recovered from a similar back injury during his playing days, so his conversations with Hodge and the medical staff provided reassurance.
Sellars said: “You have to work with the medical group and assess the situation and we had to manage him and make sure he came back nice and slowly. That’s sometimes difficult when players want to show their new clubs what they’re about.
“You speak to the surgeon who did the operation and get their thoughts on whether he was going to be OK. I’d had a similar operation as a player, so I knew about it – it was just a case of doing the right work and not rushing him back and holding him back more than anything.
“The medical staff did an unbelievable job in getting him fit – that’s full credit to Rob and his team to really get him back to where he didn’t really have any reoccurrences and from that day, he’s trained regularly and played regularly as well. Now he’s progressed in the under-21s and was outstanding last year with the team getting promotion and getting to the cup final.”
Appearing in that final was down in large part to the dedicated work of former head of performance and medicine Dr Rob Chakraverty and the medical team at the club. Hodge arrived with a double stress fracture in his back, known as the lumbar spine, meaning the excitement of joining a new club was somewhat dampened for the youngster, who needed his expectations managing by staff.
Chakraverty said: “He suffered the injury at Man City and went for surgery, and we took him on at a relatively early stage after the surgery. When we looked at him, the discussions we were having with him and his father, and with the club, were that we couldn’t guarantee that he could get back to the level that he wanted to. It was a little bit of a gamble, but Scott was adamant about his talent, and that it was worth any risk.
“When he came in, he had a slightly unrealistic expectation of when he would get back. By the time he arrived with us, he’d already had a complication after the surgery, which delayed things. The main thing was managing his expectations and creating a plan around him to ensure that he maintained fitness and was able to resume training, but without putting him at risk of a relapse.
“We always felt it was going to take him about a year after surgery to get back to playing. He was under the impression it would take a few months, so that was the first thing. He’s a model professional, but he trains at such a high intensity that we had to carefully manage how he was brought back.
“We got him back playing but didn’t want to push him too far. That was always the danger, pushing him too quickly that he’d break down. We agreed to get him to the point where he could complete 60 minutes in matches, so he would get matches under his belt, rather than go for 90 and he breaks down.
“That was the strategy, and he was doing exceptionally well, so his and our confidence built that he wouldn’t break down. By the end of the season, he was doing 90 minutes, then went away with Ireland and did 90 minutes, and he’s been brilliant since, we’ve not had any problems with him.”
Recovery processes can be long and, at times, leave a player in a dark place, but that’s where Hodge’s personality came to the fore. He had one aim and that was to get back playing as soon as possible, and it was that determination which impressed Chakraverty early on in his time in old gold.
He said: “He’s a footballer and wants to play football. What we were trying to do was give him the opportunity to play matches, without pushing him, because if he broke down and had another two or three months out, that would have been really negative for him and his development.
“The academy staff looking after him all worked to that plan by managing his training load differently to other players to enable him to play matches. Even in 60 minutes, he does as much work as other people do in 90, and because of the way he is, just wanting to be a successful footballer, he does extras – that’s his mentality, so we had to educate him a bit about the requirements for his recovery, and to buy into the days off he needed to get through the first year.”
While Hodge was unable to take to the pitch at his new club, a natural frustration, Hunter-Barrett was amongst the staff on hand to reassure the young player that it wouldn’t always be the case, which in his case, was fairly straightforward, given Hodge’s exemplary mentality and hunger to succeed.
Hunter-Barrett said: “He’s a driven individual, does everything right and has now been rewarded with some time on the pitch in the Premier League. It’s great for the staff to see when the player returns.
“The medical team have done an incredible job spending a year with him trying to provide sustainable rehabilitation for him to get back out onto the pitch. I’m sure we’ll reap the benefits and the rewards of their good work.”
The light at the end of the tunnel was finally met by the Republic of Ireland under-21 international at the end of February – an eight-minute cameo off the bench in a 4-3 win over Reading, and from that point, match fitness was essential, with Collins’ group shaping up for a promotion push via the PL2 play-offs.
A fortnight later, Hodge needed just three minutes off the bench to bag in a 4-0 thrashing of West Bromwich Albion – a shore fire way to adhere yourself to Wolves supporters – and by the start of April he was starting games.
The under-21s were winning football matches and Hodge’s transition into the team only aided that momentum. Into the play-offs the Wolves youngsters went in May, and with Hodge playing every minutes of the penalty shootout win over Norwich City and 2-0 victory over Norwich City final, his season had flipped on its head.
Hodge shone in the midfield at Molineux both nights, which didn’t go unnoticed by first-team head coach at the time Bruno Lage, who called the youngster up to his pre-season squad in Alicante, beginning his association with the senior team, which has continued, despite the change in head coach and led to an eventual first-team debut at Chelsea last month.
Sellars said: “He went away for pre-season with the first-team and we watched him train – on some days he was as good as anybody and he looked comfortable.
“It was just a case of waiting for the right moment (to put him in). With the Chelsea game, we just needed someone to get the ball back, regain it and press – that’s probably Joe’s biggest strength so it was probably the perfect moment to put him on and he certainly took that opportunity.”
It's always a proud moment seeing a senior debut. 👏
— Wolves Academy (@WolvesAcademy) October 11, 2022
Congratulations, Joe Hodge!
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Since that afternoon at Stamford Bridge, Hodge has racked up three further first-team appearances, including the full 90 minutes of the club’s 1-0 win over Leeds United in the Carabao Cup, which new head coach Julen Lopetegui will have been watching with a keen eye.
Determination to impressive the Spaniard will be high on Hodge’s list of priorities, and the upcoming training camp in Marbella will provide the ideal opportunity, and for Chakraverty, who saw the youngster on a daily basis during first-team training, he has no doubt an exciting career is ahead of Hodge.
He said: “He’s a natural. He has all the ingredients to be really, really successful. He trains with a high intensity, plays with a high intensity, and lives and breathes football every second of the day, whether that’s his prehab or recovery, as well as being on the pitch. He’s a brilliant person.”
As Lopetegui lapped the Molineux pitch in his first interview as Wolves’ head coach, he said “football and life is about being able to overcome difficulties and hard moments” – a message which will resonate with Hodge, who grafted through the tough times and can now look to the future with excitement.
