Brisbane coach Anthony Griffin expects Canterbury to carry out its own medical examination of Broncos centre Justin Hodges at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

Hodges was spared the late contact work at training on Thursday morning but will carry the remnants of a painful rib injury into what is tipped to be a bruising encounter with the Bulldogs, up against likely Origin rival Josh Morris.

Hodges pulled out of last week’s 32-6 win over the Gold Coast after scans detected a small fracture in his lower rib.

He trained with the side on Thursday morning and while he dodged the heavy collision work, Griffin declared he would tackle the Bulldogs.

There’s a possibility he’ll have a pre-game painkilling injection.

“He’s sweet, he’s going to play,” said Griffin.

“Obviously he’s still got a little issue there with his ribs but he’ll get some contact on Friday night I imagine.”

Griffin was confident young utility Jordan Kahu would handle his latest challenge of switching from Hodges’s right side to fill in for English international Jack Reed (fractured eye socket) at left centre.

“He’s a good kid and one thing about him is he doesn’t get flustered,” Griffin said.

“It’s a massive thing losing Jack and Staggy (David Stagg, medial ligament). They’re two experienced guys and you’d prefer to have them there.

“It’s given Jordie another opportunity to keep improving which he’s done very week.”

Ben Hunt will wear the No.6 jumper again with Scott Prince given an extra week to recover from a hamstring strain for when Brisbane lose their star players to Origin.

“I thought he was very composed last week (against the Titans) and made some very good decisions,” said Griffin.

The Bulldogs, who lost last year’s grand final to Melbourne, are currently in 13th place but only one win outside of the top eight.