Brisbane captain Justin Hodges says he's 100 per cent fit and is raring to help the NRL ladder leaders extend their winning streak against St George Illawarra on Friday night.
Hodges has been sidelined for the past two weeks with a hamstring strain but has been training all week and was named on Tuesday by Wayne Bennett in the Broncos' team to take on the in-form Dragons.
The 32-year-old, who is no stranger to hamstring injuries, says he had erred on the side of caution by giving his leg an extra week to recover before returning to action.
"It was only a low grade one. I would have tried to play last week but having only trained one week and then obviously didn't train with them all week I didn't want to ruin their preparation," he said.
"It would've been pretty selfish of me to do that. I just waited another week ... with a grade one you're looking at two weeks max but with my history I sort of had to wait a little bit longer as well.
"I'll be ready to go."
A one-week suspension to Jarrod Wallace opened the door for Hodges' return with Dale Copley moving to the wing as the Queensland and Australia representative returns in his usual centre position.
Corey Oates drops to the bench to replace Wallace.
In Hodges' absence the Broncos picked up impressive wins over Gold Coast and the Sydney Roosters, making it five wins on the spin to move to the top of the competition ladder.
Hodges says he's been impressed by his team's efforts over the past fortnight.
"Very proud of the boys. What they've done, they've really stepped up the last two weeks and the game against the Roosters last Friday night, I would have loved to have been out there," he said.
"It was something special and a great team win."
Hodges is one of the few Brisbane players who have played at Friday's venue, Jubilee Oval in Kogarah.
With the Dragons overcoming an underwhelming start to the year to win four matches in a row on the back of fine form by halves Benji Marshall and Gareth Widdop, Hodges knows there's no room for the Broncos to get ahead of themselves.
"The players they've got in their side are just freakish talents," he said.
"Benji's on fire and Gareth there, their forwards have been outstanding, big Trent Merrin, and they've got some great talent out wide as well - Dugan.
"They're a great side, they're just starting to play to their potential."
Broncos: Lachlan Maranta, Dale Copley, Jack Reed, Justin Hodges (capt), Daniel Vidot, Anthony Milford, Ben Hunt, Josh McGuire, Andrew McCullough, Sam Thaiday, Alex Glenn, Matt Gillett, Corey Parker. Interchange: Corey Oates, Mitch Garbutt, Mitchell Dodds, Kodi Nikorima.
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