The rest of us had her penciled in when she produced the highlight of the round with a freakish match sealing goal against the Kangaroos on Saturday.
The 4.11 (35) to 2.8 (20) victory puts the Lions in a prime position for a top two finish and home final and it was Hodder’s heroics that secured the win.
The livewire forward was at home in bed battling a cold on Monday when Lions coach Craig Starcevich called her with the news, she had joined Belle Dawes and Nat Grider as the Club’s third nomination for the season.
“It is a bit of a surprise for me, I’m quite hard on myself so I expect to do big things and I personally feel I’ve got plenty of things I can improve on,’’ she said.
“It is great to receive this nomination, but I’m not satisfied yet and my attitude is still all about ripping in at training and working on my game.
“When Craig told me I was bit emotional, the last few years have been a bit tough for me, so from that perspective it was great to receive this nomination, but I’m not satisfied yet and my attitude is still all about ripping in at training and working on my game.’’
Hodder collected eight disposals and laid eight tackles in the Lions’ 15-point victory.
But it was her contender for the AFLW goal of the year that has everybody talking.
The game was in the balance for much of the afternoon and it was a piece of individual brilliance midway through the final term from the Lions livewire that finally torpedoed any chance of victory for North Melbourne.
A Greta Bodey squaring kick to about 35m from goal looked like being a turnover when Hodder flew in from nowhere to spoil the Kangaroos defender. She then kept her feet, gathered the footy and snapped a stunning goal on her right foot from congestion to put the game out of reach for the visitors.
A couple of days later she still isn’t quite sure how it happened.
“It was just instinct, I didn’t really have time to think about it,’’ she said.
“To be honest all I can remember about it was the celebration, the girls came from everywhere and we had a huge hug because we all felt that was the goal that was going to give us the win.
“That moment, in the middle of the Gabba with the girls was pretty special, I’ll never forget it.’’
