Brisbane Broncos centre Justin Hodges on track for State of Origin return The Broncos are desperate for Justin Hodges to return to the side. THE Broncos and Queensland have received a major boost for their 2014 preparations with star centre Justin Hodges to be fit for the State of Origin series. The 31-year-old was initially expected to miss nine months after rupturing his achilles tendon in Brisbane's 26-24 defeat of the Dragons last month at Suncorp Stadium. That rehabilitation time frame would have seen Hodges return around late May next year, leaving him seriously underdone for the June 4 Origin opener in Brisbane. But Hodges has impressed with his post-operative progress, giving Broncos medicos hope the Test centre will be training at full capacity within six months. The best-case scenario is that Hodges will be available for Brisbane's season-opener, but even a conservative estimate would see him return to the paddock well before the Origin series. Justin Hodges of the Broncos on crutches after the round 22 NRL match between the Broncos and the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium. Broncos coach Anthony Griffin said while his strike weapon will miss October's World Cup, he is well ahead of schedule and hopes to discard crutches later this month. "Our medical people are confident they may be able to shorten the recovery period," Griffin said. Justin himself is very positive, he's come out of the operation well and already commenced his rehab. He's feeling good so we just have to keep our fingers crossed and work hard with him. He's still in a boot and on crutches, but hopefully he has to stay on them for a couple more weeks. Justin Hodges at Broncos training. We have a long way to go with Hodgo so you never know. But I am being optimistic, we are hopeful he will be back on the park before the middle of next season. Should Hodges be unavailable for round 1, backline utilities Jordan Kahu and Josh Hoffman would be frontline contenders to temporarily fill the void at right centre. The Maroons veteran has learned harsh lessons from his first achilles tear in 2010. At the time, Hodges attempted to rush back for the playoffs, only to aggravate the injury and face a nine-month recovery. "Justin is banking on it being a shorter recovery this time, around six months," Griffin said. The medical staff and Hodgo are going to do things a bit differently this time. Last time, with the situation we were in, it was getting towards the back end of the year and Hodgo was putting too much pressure on himself and may have rushed it. That was an in-season issue, but this time Justin's rehabilitation will be out of season.