Ben Hunt - Appreciation Thread

[MaroubraBroncos]

I made a montage of Milford, so I decided to make one of Hunt. Focusing on his time at halfback since he took over in 2013.

Another great video SF! Keep up the good work. What an absolute gun this kid is. If he isn't QLD or Aus HB at some stage i'll give up! Ill take some credit as the creator of this thread :laugh:

 

[Clintos]

Hunt is even more of a champ now I know he's a Patriot's man! What an intelligent and well adjusted human being.

 

[Bucking Beads]

It hurts that Benny Hunt had to be the guy that dropped that kick off in the GF. This year he gets to make up for it by winning the CC Medal in a Broncos Grand Final win.

 

[Nepal Donkeys]

I thought Hunt could burn off the suspension in the 9s? Would've liked to see him play in England to shake the GF out in a competitive game before Rd 1.

 

[Big Pete]

He could have, it appears Bennett has opted to use the WCC as a chance to experiment with the halves.

 

[charbel]

Congratulations appear to be in order. Let's hope he's primed for an equally big year on the field!

 

[broncos4life]

Onya Benny, he did well to lock that one up. Stunner.

 

[charbel]

She's certainly a catch. Is that an omen? He's ready to move on from the dropped ball fiasco

 

[broncos4life]

Just watched that interview with Benny on The Footy Show. Yeah, Hunty is gonna be just fine.

 

[LockNLoad]

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

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

 

[sus]

promising signs... Ben Hunt NRL grand final mistake: Broncos star reflects on worst moment of his career

Ben Hunt, Big Leaguenews.com.au

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NO FOOTBALLER wants to watch a replay of a losing grand final, especially when you contribute like I did against the Cowboys.

I was devastated when I dropped that ball.
It was one of the hardest times in my life and my footy career.
I’ve always felt that I’m pretty good at getting over things, but it was hard being constantly reminded about it, especially when people kept coming up to me and asking, “Why did you drop the ball?”
So imagine how I felt when Wayne Bennett came in during the pre-season and said the whole team was going to watch a replay of the grand final.
I’d gone out of my way not to watch the game — if it was on the television I’d change the channel — so I had mixed emotions when Wayne said we were watching it.
I remember everyone looked at each other, asking, “Are we really doing this?”
But Wayne asked everyone to buy into it and credit must go to the team because they all jumped on board.
I know I didn’t want to do it, but after watching the game I appreciated it, because it allowed us to understand the little things we did wrong.

Ben Hunt reflects after knocking on in golden point, before the Cowboys went on to secure a dramatic grand final victory.Source:News Corp Australia



HONESTY SESSION
We were also able to be really honest with each other, and that was really important. It’s never easy to point out mistakes and take criticism on the chin, but that’s what we had to do to learn and move on.
The worst thing about it is that I let all my teammates down after everything we’d done all year to work to get to that point. That was the hardest thing for me to get over.
I know none of them would say it was my fault, but it was always in the back of my mind.
In saying that, the whole squad has been so supportive.
Justin Hodges was amazing on the night when it happened. He was the first guy to console me when I dropped the ball and he did it again at full-time.
I’ve always had a good idea who my support network is and the grand final incident just reinforced that.
As hard as last year’s grand final loss was, it has driven me to work even harder to taste grand final victory.
The best thing was getting back into training, it helped being around people. Everyone had moved on from the game and was looking forward to the new season. They were all really energetic and keen to make amends and I think that helped me move on.
I know a few people have questioned the Broncos’ mentally, in terms of us having scars moving forward, but we can prove them wrong.
I don’t think it’s just us that have the mental issues. It’s a big mental challenge for every team to get to the grand final. It’s a long season and one of the toughest competitions in the world. To make it to a grand final you’ve got to be mentally strong all season and that’s what we had last year.
We weren’t the prettiest team at times, but we were always mentally strong and we worked really hard in defence.

Hunt said recovering from his role in the GF has been the hardest thing he’s had to go through.Source:Getty Images



ONE BETTER
If we can do that again this season, we’ll be going in the right direction. I’m definitely excited about 2016.
At the start of last year I was a bit uncertain about where our abilities were going to take us. I knew we had a good squad, but I wasn’t sure if we were ready to go to that next level.

Big League, on sale now.Source:Supplied



As the year went on it felt like we got better and better and I think we can improve again this season.
We’ve also picked up James Roberts and he’s definitely an excitement machine. He was a bit quiet when he first came in, but he has fit in really well and you can’t coach speed.
The more we get him the ball, the more we’ll worry other teams.
I know the team and everyone is willing to put in the effort required to get back to the grand final. It’s an exciting time.
I can’t wait for the season to start.
Big League is on sale TODAY from newsagents and supermarkets, packed with all your favourite content including official NRL, Holden Cup and Lower Grade team lists.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Bennett is a genius. Instead of sweeping it all under the rug, he has made Hunt confront what happened to better try and get over it. What a coach.

 

[mrslong]

Hunt is even more of a champ now I know he's a Patriot's man! What an intelligent and well adjusted human being.

He was on Channel 9 news last pre-season wearing an Edelman jersey. It was at that moment I knew he was the man for us.

 

[mrslong]

I will never, not ever, watch that Grand Final again. Can't believe Wayne made the boys watch it. Torture.

 

[Marty Deutschmann]

Bennett is a genius. Instead of sweeping it all under the rug, he has made Hunt confront what happened to better try and get over it. What a coach.

Could say that about this forum and refusing to watch the gf replay.

 

[Big Pete]

You could, but watching the Grand Final replay isn't going to make anyone on here better at whatever it is they do.

In the Broncos case, they needed to see it to see where exactly they went wrong so they could improve on it without second guessing themselves.

 

[broncos4life]

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!