Brave Brett Hodgson was Warrington's Challenge Cup hero against Leeds

He may be small in stature but the little Australian showed bottle and nerve to seal another Wolves triumph at Wembley.

Brett Hodgson celebrates with the Challenge Cup after Warrington's victory over Leeds. Photograph: Frances Leader/Action Images
Brett Hodgson is not one of rugby league's giants. At 5ft 9in and not much more than 12st when wringing wet – and every player on the pitch after a first-half cloudburst during Saturday's Challenge Cup final was certainly that – the Warrington Wolves full-back is dwarfed by team-mates like Gareth Carvell who looks as if he has been hewn out of Yorkshire granite.

The man from Liverpool, New South Wales, proved his stature in the game at Wembley, however. The Rugby League Writers' Association members who voted him man of the match probably didn't have to scratch their heads too hard. The Australian becomes the ninth overseas player to win the Lance Todd Trophy since it came into being a year after the second world war finished. It is a surprisingly small band considering the impact imports have made on the domestic game in recent years.

It wasn't until 1966 that the South African Len Killeen of St Helens became the first import to win the trophy. Killeen, who went on to play for Balmain in Australia, died last autumn and would have admired the cool way in which Hodgson slotted his kicks and the little feint that brought him his try 10 minutes from the end of Warrington's emphatic 35-18 victory over Leeds. It was a the cue for one of the loudest roars of the afternoon.

What was remarkable about Hodgson's display was that he was still on the pitch. Just after the interval he featured in an incident which turned the tide of the game Warrington's way. Hodgson, running the ball out of defence, was hit by a shuddering challenge from the Leeds prop Kylie Leuluai that left him motionless on the turf. The ball was knocked forward by the Samoan before Brett Delaney scored what he thought was a try in the corner.

Numerous replays were shown on Wembley's big screen and Warrington's supporters would have winced. It was a legal shoulder challenge that would have been illegal in rugby union and any of Hodgson's relatives watching back home in the middle of the Australian night would have been very worried.

The ferocity of rugby league, though, shames the numerous divers in football's Premier League who fall to the ground at the merest hint of a tackle as if felled by a sniper's bullet. The Australian deserved his award which was won by his compatriot Michael Monaghan three years ago. "When Hodg plays well the team plays well," said Monaghan, whose brother Joel opened the scoring on Saturday. They might erect another of those statues in Warrington one day.