RUMOUR: Eels interested in Hunt

[Nashy]

Interesting observation Dash if Hunt would actually pass the ball to Gillett he may run into a hole instead being used as a decoy every set. Please note no other half 5/8 has trouble putting there Backrow into Holes even Mitch Pearce can do it with ease.

He's not a 5/8 though.

 

[CaptainHook]

I can't believe how much people rationalise Hunt's flaws.

Are we seriously suggesting that someone that has played 8 years of NRL, including 98 starts as a half, is still "green" (or on L plates), when the average career of an NRL player is 3 to 4 years and 43 games?

Of course, Hunt still has improvement in him, but at this stage of his career, it will be experience that may allow him to improve his management skills, and hopefully making better decisions, not his technical prowess. His kicking is not suddenly going to be accurate, and he's not gonna be much better at putting players to his right into holes though...

Yeah it's utterly baffling to me. The proof was in the pudding on Friday. Exact same opponent, exact same team, albeit it wasn't a grand final but you won't come any closer to replicating those circumstances . What exactly have our halves learned from the pain of last year? The answer is jack shit.

Hunt shits me though. He got penalised for a lifting tackle in the GF - arguably it hurt us more than his knock on. He did the same fucking thing on Friday. Utterly baffling. I have no idea why gets a free pass all the time.

 

[Foordy]

Yeah it's utterly baffling to me. The proof was in the pudding on Friday. Exact same opponent, exact same team, albeit it wasn't a grand final but you won't come any closer to replicating those circumstances . What exactly have our halves learned from the pain of last year? The answer is jack shit.

Hunt shits me though. He got penalised for a lifting tackle in the GF - arguably it hurt us more than his knock on. He did the same fucking thing on Friday. Utterly baffling. I have no idea why gets a free pass all the time.

what do you mean a "free pass" ... he is the official BHQ scapegoat for 2016.

If either of our halves gets a "free pass" it is Milford. who was by far the worse half on Friday ...

 

[CaptainHook]

what do you mean a "free pass" ... he is the official BHQ scapegoat for 2016.

If either of our halves gets a "free pass" it is Milford. who was by far the worse half on Friday ...

Why is he a scapegoat? Is it because as [MENTION=2221]Porthoz[/MENTION] pointed out he's been in first grade for 8 years. I don't care what position he's played in. He should know better.

Milford was bad on Friday. No argument there. But I'm willing to be patient with him considering his age and the fact he's played nowhere near as much first grade as Hunt...who let's face it is drifting more towards the end of his career than the beginning.

 

[Allo]

Interesting observation Dash if Hunt would actually pass the ball to Gillett he may run into a hole instead being used as a decoy every set. Please note no other half 5/8 has trouble putting there Backrow into Holes even Mitch Pearce can do it with ease.

Yeah the right side is pretty clunky. I think the results of Gillett getting the ball flat-footed is because he has nfi what Hunt is doing, probably because Hunt himself doesn't, so they end up in each other's pockets or Hunt goes himself and then offloads to Gillett who's stopped running and then gets the ball standing still.

For Gillett to be effective in attack, in the backrower-hitting-holes sense, he needs to get the ball at speed and on an angle back across the defence, because he doesn't have much footspeed acceleration to get around players. Maybe he's too tired from defending all game, which is something that needs to be looked at then too.

Wouldn't be adverse to moving him left, he's been really good in attack when he was there (I want to say it was 2013, maybe '14)

 

[Morepudding]

I can't believe how much people rationalise Hunt's flaws.

Are we seriously suggesting that someone that has played 8 years of NRL, including 98 starts as a half, is still "green" (or on L plates), when the average career of an NRL player is 3 to 4 years and 43 games?

Of course, Hunt still has improvement in him, but at this stage of his career, it will be experience that may allow him to improve his management skills, and hopefully making better decisions, not his technical prowess. His kicking is not suddenly going to be accurate, and he's not gonna be much better at putting players to his right into holes though...

Couldn't agree more with this! Everyone keeps saying oh he's young, He's 26 will be 27 in the first 2-3 weeks of next season, that isn't that young... This year he got out played by a number of halves who are a lot younger, Milford (22), Ash Taylor (21), Nathan Cleary (18), Adam Reynolds (26 but 4 months younger), and many more. I think he will be better off as a running half and finding a team with a good organizing half with a good kicking game.

 

[Kimlo]

Why is he a scapegoat? Is it because as @Porthoz pointed out he's been in first grade for 8 years. I don't care what position he's played in. He should know better.

Milford was bad on Friday. No argument there. But I'm willing to be patient with him considering his age and the fact he's played nowhere near as much first grade as Hunt...who let's face it is drifting more towards the end of his career than the beginning.

He's 26, hardly drifting towards the end of his career. He's also only played 60 games or so more than Milford, most of them on the bench. He's hardly a seasoned veteran in comparison.

 

[Porthoz]

Gillett was an absolute weapon in attack, until Hunt took over as halfback next to him...

Gillett is also always one of the first kick chasers, meaning he does have speed and acceleration, and would probably be great if he was put into holes or chasing grubbers... need I say more?

As to breaking this halves partnership. I can't see why not, given we lack fundamental parts of the game in our squad.

 

[Morepudding]

Yes! Everyone is like oh leave hunt alone (for the knock on off restart). The thing that annoyed me most was his poor kicking game (for the whole game/season), and the fact that in the last 4 minutes of normal play, he gave away a penalty which got them at our end of the field, and then when milford got the ball and passed it to hunt, he lost it. which then 2-3 tackles later, they dive over in the corner. The dropping kick off was just the tip of the iceberg. To be honest, he was lucky it got to golden point, he had a chance to make up for his shocker final 5 minutes, only to cost us again.

 

[ZTop]

Gillett was an absolute weapon in attack, until Hunt took over as halfback next to him...

Gillett is also always one of the first kick chasers, meaning he does have speed and acceleration, and would probably be great if he was put into holes or chasing grubbers... need I say more?

As to breaking this halves partnership. I can't see why not, given we lack fundamental parts of the game in our squad.

Gillett was fine at the start of the season, in fact most of Hunt's try assists were Gillett's tries
There was nothing wrong with them at the start of the season, so why can't re-create the form. I don't think getting rid of Hunt is going to help, He just needs help

 

[Porthoz]

Gillett was fine at the start of the season, in fact most of Hunt's try assists were Gillett's tries
There was nothing wrong with them at the start of the season, so why can't re-create the form. I don't think getting rid of Hunt is going to help, He just needs help

I'm sorry, what? Gillett has 3 tries for the season, 2 of which in Townsville halfway through the season. The other was against the Warriors in Rnd 2.

Let me put Gillett's stats into perspective:

- Second row without Hunt as HB: 31 tries in 3.5 years (avg 8 tries p/year)
- As lock: 8 tries in half year (with Hunt halfback)
- Second row next to Hunt as HB: 8 tries in 2.5 years (avg 3 tries p/year)

See the trend?

 

[sus]

no word on actual Parra recruiting outside of NSW but some board voting matters may be holding play up

cannot for the life of see why a guy like Hunt would even contemplate hooking up with someone like Norman (or move to syd for that matter).. that said their onfield dyno would be golden probly

what the club has in store, NFI, but who would replace is a massive gamble.. benji? lololol.. wtf else is off contract? nothing would happen this off season, surely?

 

[Nashy]

I'm sorry, what? Gillett has 3 tries for the season, 2 of which in Townsville halfway through the season. The other was against the Warriors in Rnd 2.

Let me put Gillett's stats into perspective:

- Second row without Hunt as HB: 31 tries in 3.5 years (avg 8 tries p/year)
- As lock: 8 tries in half year (with Hunt halfback)
- Second row next to Hunt as HB: 8 tries in 2.5 years (avg 3 tries p/year)

See the trend?

When you spoke to Wayne Bennett about Matt's development, was he concerned that the problem was Hunt?

 

[winslow_wong]

Imagine if hunt went to the Titans and paired up with Taylor in the halves. Wouldn't that be a kick in the guts.

 

[Dash]

Imagine if hunt went to the Titans and paired up with Taylor in the halves. Wouldn't that be a kick in the guts.

We could just roll with an Elgey/Milford pairing. Could be worse!

 

[mitch222]

I'm sorry, what? Gillett has 3 tries for the season, 2 of which in Townsville halfway through the season. The other was against the Warriors in Rnd 2.

Let me put Gillett's stats into perspective:

- Second row without Hunt as HB: 31 tries in 3.5 years (avg 8 tries p/year)
- As lock: 8 tries in half year (with Hunt halfback)
- Second row next to Hunt as HB: 8 tries in 2.5 years (avg 3 tries p/year)

See the trend?

Whilst I like the stats you have provided, they don't paint the whole picture. Without Hunt as halfback, Gillett had the highest amount of errors in the team for those years. Gillett was scoring a lot of those tries from trying to do it all himself. What doesn't help his cause these days is the fact they go out the back all the time for the sweep player (even Thaiday & Glenn struggle too). Sometimes we do need to straighten the attack before we go wide. That and Gillett needs to start running decent lines that we know he is capable of doing.

 

[broncos4life]

I'm sorry, what? Gillett has 3 tries for the season, 2 of which in Townsville halfway through the season. The other was against the Warriors in Rnd 2.

Let me put Gillett's stats into perspective:

- Second row without Hunt as HB: 31 tries in 3.5 years (avg 8 tries p/year)
- As lock: 8 tries in half year (with Hunt halfback)
- Second row next to Hunt as HB: 8 tries in 2.5 years (avg 3 tries p/year)

See the trend?

Do you think that in at least some part of those pre-hunt try stats could be down to the fact the our attacking game plan was basically 'pass it to Gillett and pray to every god you know that he can create something'?

 

[Porthoz]

When you spoke to Wayne Bennett about Matt's development, was he concerned that the problem was Hunt?

Nah, he told me he thought it was Boyd's fault...