England and Canberra hooker Josh Hodgson says he is “embarrassed” and “angry” at his own “stupidity” after he was caught on video charging through a student dormitory door in New Zealand following England’s Four Nations exit on Saturday.
The former Hull KR star gave the NRL and his new club a bad first impression when the footage emerged of him, visibly intoxicated, charging through a door to cheers.
“It was stupidity on my part to go ahead and do something like that,” Hodgson told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The people who owned the place were saying the door was getting replaced anyway [it had two previous holes], so to just go ahead and do it. There was obviously people filming and cheering me on.
“I still shouldn’t have done it. If someone tells you to jump off a bridge you don’t do it. I’ll cop what punishment I get from it, move on and learn from it.
“The next morning I was embarrassed, it was one of those moments where you cringe straight away and think ‘why did I do that?’
“I was nervous to speak to the [Raiders] and nervous with England to tell them what happened. I didn’t want Canberra thinking they’d just signed someone who’s pretty loose, couldn’t be bothered and was just going to come here and have incidents like this on a recurring theme. That’s not me, that’s not what I’m about.
“I’ve probably made a bad impression for myself at Canberra and as a player in the NRL just moving over here, which I’m pretty disappointed and angry with myself about. I’m sure my other club, Hull KR, would vouch for me saying they didn’t have any hiccups with me.
“Overall I’m a pretty professional kid and I was disappointed in myself. I just want to try and move on from it, I don’t want to be dwelling on me being a bit of an idiot and letting myself and the team down.
“I don’t think it puts extra pressure on me as a rugby player. I’m only human and I made a mistake. As long as you learn from your mistakes.”
