Canterbury hero Trent Hodkinson revealed he wasn't supposed to kick in Saturday night's epic NRL semi-final win over Manly after coming from the field early in the match with a knee injury.
Hodkinson has had a long and painful history of career-threatening ruptured knees and feared the worst when he heard the joint pop under the weight of Sea Eagles captain Jamie Lyon in the first half of the memorable match.
The Bulldogs trainer signalled he should come from the field, although instead of the stretcher coming out, Bulldogs fans were encouraged to see Hodkinson limp unassisted from the ground.
Strapped up and passed fit to return, Hodkinson, hobbling slightly, was meant to take every precaution to keep the knee stable and avoid kicking at all costs.
Michael Ennis took over the drop outs and Tim Lafai was to continue kicking goals.
But with the match on the line, Hodkinson put the pain to one side and kicked two of the sweetest field goals you'll ever see - the second a golden-point match-winner - to propel the Bulldogs to within one game of the grand final.
Hodkinson isn't expected to be in any doubt for Saturday night's preliminary final against Penrith, but at one point he feared his season was over.
"I did at the start. That's why I stayed down. I thought, 'what have I done?'" said Hodkinson.
"It was a different feeling to be honest. I thought the worst straight away ... fortunately it's all good.
"I didn't do the drop-outs, I gave them to Mick. I wasn't going to kick for goal or do drop-outs."
It should come as no surprise that Hodkinson was the man with the golden boot.
He had already kicked two match-winning one-pointers for Canterbury this season, as well as scoring the try that broke NSW's State of Origin drought.
Hodkinson says he thrives on the responsibility of the big moments and is confident heading into a showdown with another sharp-shooter - Penrith's Jamie Soward.
"I just have a lot of confidence in having that pressure on (my) shoulders," he said.
"I was very confident going into both kicks. I saw them charging at me but I just had a crack and they went through.
"It's a great feeling to get over. I would have been very devastated if we gave that game away, but two games to go hopefully for us."
Hodkinson and halves partner Josh Reynolds both experienced a lull in performance after being part of history for NSW, and that was reflected in the Bulldogs limping into the finals in seventh spot.
So the pair went to coach Des Hasler for advice.
Hasler told Hodkinson not to panic, and advised Reynolds to persist with being his aggressive self, but to keep a lid on the ill-discipline which had crept into his game and had started to affect his teammates.
"The best words he said to me was, `you might be down but it's how you bounce back', and I took that on board," said Reynolds.
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