Ben Hunt - Appreciation Thread

[Unbreakable]

I still haven't even watched the highlights from the grand final, I occasionally see glimpses of Feldt's try and Jt's field goal, it's like a dagger to the heart every time.

 

[K-Style]

Wait what? ? ! His grandad's name is Oates??! Are he and Corey potentially related? Haha

Haha. I wondered that too.

Re Feldt: I kept.wondering why he was playing ISC all season. They were saving him up for the finals.

 

[sus]

fuckin oath.. so easy to forget how young milf is, and hunt and macca had never really carried that kind.of burden earlier..

i was thinkin of how hard a dynasty is to create.. would almost never have happened if these guys just rocked up and won the bitch first season Benny back.. but having gone thru this shit could just be the fuel

 

[sus]

mind you...

i also spent a few sleepless night thinkng "what if maranta was selected on the left wing..."

 

[Super Freak]

EVEN a Wayne Bennett spray won’t stop the haters from reminding Ben Hunt of his NRL grand final pain.

And Hunt reckons he is fine with that.

Bennett launched a passionate defence of Hunt after Parramatta fans jeered the Brisbane No.7 every time an Eels kick-off went the playmaker’s way in their NRL season opening win.

They were clearly hoping for a repeat of Hunt’s now infamous knock-on in Brisbane’s heartbreaking golden point 2015 grand final loss to North Queensland.

Bennett reckoned the cynics were “talking cheap” and described criticism of Hunt as “the greatest overkill I’ve ever seen on a player in my life”.

But Hunt did not expect the sledges to end any time soon.

“As a footballer you have to expect to cop those things,” Hunt said of the Eels crowd.

“I don’t really mind. The crowd were chanting a few things but I just brushed it off.

“It doesn’t worry me.”

Hunt admitted he was just relieved to get through his first game since his mistake was endlessly highlighted following the Cowboys’ drought-breaking NRL title.

“It’s always good to get your first game back of the season after that finish last year,” he said.

“It was good to move on and get the game done.”

Hunt may be cut some slack on Friday night when he runs out in front of an adoring home crowd against the Warriors.

But the halfback admits he will still be under the pump thanks to the man he lines up against — Kiwi superstar Shaun Johnson.

“He’s one of the most dangerous in the competition, we will have to be on our toes,” Hunt said.

“He’s the whole package. He is so unpredictable — he’s got everything you want in a player.”

But Hunt reckons he still has some tricks up his sleeve.

Hunt and halves partner Anthony Milford surprised the critics when they inspired Brisbane’s 2015 grand final surge in their first year together.

In an ominous call, Hunt vowed to be even better with livewire pivot Milford this season.

“We want to improve on the things we did last year,” Hunt said.

“I thought we were all right in patches last year.

“But we just want to get more consistent and really nail down our plays.”

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...m/news-story/d3c43268562d29a66fb00096d5a97185

 

[bb_gun]

Just fix your kicking game Benjamin, please.

 

[Nashy]

Just fix your kicking game Benjamin, please.

This times a million.

 

[mitch222]

Anyone would think hunts kicking game is the worse in the league when its far from that.

 

[Porthoz]

Anyone would think hunts kicking game is the worse in the league when its far from that.

Really? How many halves in the NRL have worse kicking?

 

[broncos4life]

Here we go...

 

[mitch222]

Really? How many halves in the NRL have worse kicking?

Ahem

Here we go (based on teams this weekend) I rate the following below Hunt

- Josh Reynods
- Moses Mbye
- Jeff Robson
- Lachlan Croker
- Sam Williams
- Jayden Nikorima
- Jackson Hastings
- Cody Walker
- Luke Keary
- Jarrod Mullen
- Chad Townsend
- Benji Marshall
- Blake Green
- Tyrone Roberts
- Ashley Taylor
- Mitchell Moses
- Luke Brooks
- Dylan Walker

He almost kicked us to a premiership last year, so his kicking isn't that fucking bad. People only pick on him because he does the majority of the kicking whereas Milford does one or two long kicks in a game and a couple of grubbers. Most halves combinations share the kicking. Every team knows he is doing the general kicking so they are able to put a lot more pressure on him. And yes, I think Milford and McCullough need to take a bit more of the pressure off Hunt when it comes to kicking

 

[broncos4life]

Agree with most of that list but you can't have Ash Taylor on that list, he has a great kicking game.

 

[Porthoz]

I agree that he suffers more pressure due to not having a kicking half helping him out, which makes him do the bulk of the kicking.

Having said that, quantity does not equal quality. He has no repertoire and even though he has a strong boot for long kicks or bombs, he lacks accuracy big time.
His cross kicks and grubbers are generally awful, more often than not either too short or too long. His long kicks rarely find grass or the ingoal, and his bombs are generally not hard to catch for the opposition.

Most of the halves on that list don't hold a candle to Hunt as a half, but practically all of them kick better than him.

 

[mitch222]

Agree with most of that list but you can't have Ash Taylor on that list, he has a great kicking game.

all be it unproven at NRL level
the 20s is a joke compared to the NRL
at the moment, I rate Hunts better because he consistently does it at an NRL level

 

[rnabokov]

I agree that he suffers more pressure due to not having a kicking half helping him out, which makes him do the bulk of the kicking.

Having said that, quantity does not equal quality. He has no repertoire and even though he has a strong boot for long kicks or bombs, he lacks accuracy big time.
His cross kicks and grubbers are generally awful, more often than not either too short or too long. His long kicks rarely find grass or the ingoal, and his bombs are generally not hard to catch for the opposition.

Most of the halves on that list don't hold a candle to Hunt as a half, but practically all of them kick better than him.

This, in particular.

His kicking game is inconsistent. From great to ordinary.

Aside from which, I don't think it is all Ben's fault. For mine, a good kicking game is a key element of a structured game plan - significantly made up of an important series of worked set play combinations with targeted runners in attack and defence.

I don't think we do enough of that, especially now, with Roberts and Oates as such quick strike weapons. Hopefully we will see Hunt (and Milf and Macca) kick much more, and more intelligently for them, and others.

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

I watched the replay last night for the first time in entirety and I'm now ok with it.

1. We fucked up in about 8 different ways.
2. The Cowboys got lucky
3. We will have learnt an untold amount and be better for it.

I think a large part of what happened is that we exceeded expectations so much last year. Last year was meant to be about getting our defense right and making the finals to get some experience. Look at how many times that Cows group made the finals before winning it.

This is a young team that have learnt some valuable lessons and experience, that have mastered their defense and our now opening up their attack. If that Grand Final was this year or next (when I think most people would have expected this group to get there) our attack would have been so polished that Morgan last minute bullshit wouldn't have mattered because we would have taken the game out of their reach by then.

Bring on 2016!

This is why you all need to rewatch the game.

You'll see that it is a good thing we lost that game and Thurston is now out of our way.

Broncos will go from strength to strength this year. Class about the rest

 

[Sproj]

The thing is though, the Broncs WERE the best team last year, now though it is a completely different season and other teams will have no doubt improved. Roberts could also make us improve if he fires but if he flops, we are worse than last year potentially. Though that said, effectively swappin Dodds for McGuire is a definite improvement for us there.

 

[Foordy]

I'll say this...

If Ben Hunt can get himself a CONSISTENTLY good kicking game, the he would be the second best halfback in the game behind only Thurston.

And he does have all the kicks he needs, we've seen it in games before... IMO, he needs better decision making on which kick to use in particular situations.