BRONCOS great Kevin Walters has warned NRL rivals Ben Hunt will grow to rival Andrew Johns.
Hunt produced one of the finest performances of his 127-game career on Friday night, outpointing Maroons rival Daly Cherry-Evans in a 44-10 hammering of the Sea Eagles at Suncorp Stadium.
The 25-year-old scored a try and had a hand in two others, but just as significant was his ability to put the boot in Manly, amassing a staggering 469 kick metres, which was 202m more than Cherry-Evans.
In his rookie years at Red Hill, Hunt was compared to Immortal Johns largely because of their physical similarities.
At 178cm and 89kg, Hunt is almost a carbon copy of Johns, who was 1cm taller and 1kg heavier during his illustrious career for the Knights, NSW and Australia.
After watching Hunt’s clinical destruction of the Sea Eagles, Walters says the Broncos halfback possesses the formidable running game that made Johns arguably the greatest No. 7 of his generation.
“Ben is a bit like Joey in that way,” said Walters, who with Broncos assistant Allan Langer has spent the past six months mentoring Hunt and his halves partner Anthony Milford.
“Like Andrew, Hunt’s got that big rear and the lower-body strength to push through tackles.
“Ben is a different player to Alf (Broncos halfback great Langer). The boys here call Hunt the Dozer because while Alf used to beat people with his footwork, Ben beats defenders with pure strength.
“He’s got all the skills, but I think he can get even better. He’s playing some wonderful football, but the scary part is we haven’t seen the best of him. There is more in his running and defensive game.’’
Hunt has cut back on alcohol, overhauled his diet and embraced the coaching advice of Brisbane’s greatest halves, Walters and Langer.
“I had a lot of mistakes in me, I played a lot of silly football when I was younger,’’ Hunt said. “I chanced my arm too much when I shouldn’t have and it’s something I have worked hard on.
“Alfie and Kevvie do a lot of work with us and having two old halves and some of the greats of the game being there at training, it’s definitely helping my game.
“I wanted to improve my kicking game, that was my biggest goal this year. I felt I was really patchy last year so I knew I could be a better kicker.’’
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