mitch222
State of Origin Captain
- Apr 4, 2014
- 8,784
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Here is the only stat that matters
Hunt & Broncos 5-1 1st on the ladder
Taylor & Titans 3-3 9th on the ladder
Ben Hunt vs Ash Taylor
- Thread starter Big Pete
- Start date
Here is the only stat that matters
Hunt & Broncos 5-1 1st on the ladder
Taylor & Titans 3-3 9th on the ladder
- Jan 25, 2013
- 25,700
- 30,042
I think a few people are getting ahead of themselves here.
There have been plenty of young players, especially young halves, that look like world-beaters in their first season. It's how they develop and adapt once the opposition figures out their game plan that shows their class. For that, we're not going to have a fair comparison for at least another year or two.
And bagging Hunt because at the equivalent stage of his career he was a benchie is critically unfair. He was behind Lockyer and a very well coupled Wallace. Anyone cares to watch any replays and you'll see how sharp Wall-P looked next to Lockyer. Would Taylor have gotten a run in front of either of those? The fairer argument would have been when Norman got the nod over Hunt in 2012, but again, despite what others argue, Hunt was a half, Norman was a five-eighth, and Hunt's organising was redundent with Wallace being the dominant half. In contrast, Taylor has deliberately gone to a club that was not only short in the halves, but one that would agree to play him in first grade immediately. Hunt could have gone to half a dozen clubs and done the same, but chose to stay loyal. Pretty poor for people to use that against him for this comparison IMO.
And every time I see Seymour mentioned I feel a bit sad. Not just for his career (which I maintain could have been wonderful), but his personal life and his families'. You just can't save them all unfortunately.
There have been plenty of young players, especially young halves, that look like world-beaters in their first season. It's how they develop and adapt once the opposition figures out their game plan that shows their class. For that, we're not going to have a fair comparison for at least another year or two.
And bagging Hunt because at the equivalent stage of his career he was a benchie is critically unfair. He was behind Lockyer and a very well coupled Wallace. Anyone cares to watch any replays and you'll see how sharp Wall-P looked next to Lockyer. Would Taylor have gotten a run in front of either of those? The fairer argument would have been when Norman got the nod over Hunt in 2012, but again, despite what others argue, Hunt was a half, Norman was a five-eighth, and Hunt's organising was redundent with Wallace being the dominant half. In contrast, Taylor has deliberately gone to a club that was not only short in the halves, but one that would agree to play him in first grade immediately. Hunt could have gone to half a dozen clubs and done the same, but chose to stay loyal. Pretty poor for people to use that against him for this comparison IMO.
And every time I see Seymour mentioned I feel a bit sad. Not just for his career (which I maintain could have been wonderful), but his personal life and his families'. You just can't save them all unfortunately.
theshed
Just a Game
- Aug 28, 2010
- 15,586
- 36,310
That took me quite a long time to do on my phone.
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Alec
International Rep
- Mar 4, 2008
- 19,413
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Way too early to tell, but he's looking the goods so far. Playing for a shit side, no quality back-up in the spine, less than 10 games into his career, but he's going well. If this was a few years ago, I would have said he'd turn out better. I still have a feeling he probably will. But rookie halves can disappear so quickly too.
- Jan 25, 2013
- 25,700
- 30,042
Tim Smith wasn't a Bronco (let's pretend those few months in 2009 / 2010 didn't happen) so I'm not going to get as upset about him :)
Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 32,225
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- Thread starter
- #42
It's the reality of the situation and it's clearly had an impact on his development as a player.
Just as much as injuries and playing for a crappy club like the Titans have impeded Taylor's.
And let's not act like Ben Hunt was a victim either. Even Hunt himself has admitted that he made poor life choices around this time that prevented him from realising his potential. He made it too easy for the coaching staff to overlook him, to the point where Taylor was considered the long term option in 2013 before things started changing.
Forwards*
Gal and Graham.
Nothing to sneeze at either.
- Jan 25, 2013
- 25,700
- 30,042
So had he played better he would have unseated Wallace or Lockyer? And if not, would Taylor?
- Feb 27, 2010
- 30,041
- 12,315
I thought this thread was about how Hunt and Taylor will fare in the next few years, not how they compare now.
As good as Hunt was in the U20's, Taylor was a few notches above that in his U20's stint to give an example.
The way Taylor has handled FG, especially having to be the go to half in a team considered by many as the prime spoon candidate, says a lot about him as well.
Of course it is all reading tea leaves, and yes, there have been many players hailed before, but one can only predict based on talent and what both players have done so far. A lot can go wrong, but he has all the makings of a great.
As good as Hunt was in the U20's, Taylor was a few notches above that in his U20's stint to give an example.
The way Taylor has handled FG, especially having to be the go to half in a team considered by many as the prime spoon candidate, says a lot about him as well.
Of course it is all reading tea leaves, and yes, there have been many players hailed before, but one can only predict based on talent and what both players have done so far. A lot can go wrong, but he has all the makings of a great.
- Jan 25, 2013
- 25,700
- 30,042
He went better than Player Of The Year? What was his award? Player If All Of The Years?
- Jul 27, 2013
- 6,255
- 2,093
Hunt. Why? He has a better overall skill set and more tools in his belt. We can look at the objective stats that were posted earlier by other members which clearly show Hunt is the "better" player, and in a team that has a pretty handy #6 in Anthony Milford to take some pressure off in terms of kick meters, runs, run meters, etc. This shows that Hunt is objectively more effective within his team, and there's no reason to think this type of trend wouldn't continue.
Hunt is playing a slightly different role this year, with Milford and Macca doing more kicking and Boyd and Milford doing more running than they did last year (at least subjectively to me it would seem at this point). It's taking him some time to get used to this, as it would appear, however his last 2 games have been much improved, and last week was probably his best game this year.
Now, if you want to compare apples for apples with Taylor, take what Hunt was doing in his first season as the Broncos #7, and in the first 10 rounds or so, he was killing it - I even made a little video montage a while back.
Not taking anything away from Taylor, he's certainly talented, but to make any prediction beyond that would simply be guessing. You gotta go with the bloke who has the runs on the board, the one who has more tools, the one who is tested and the one whom is objectively, at this point in time at least, a superior player.
- Feb 27, 2010
- 30,041
- 12,315
Yes, he went better in my opinion.
That Hunt won POTY and Taylor didn't, has more to do with whom their opposition was, than how well they played in their stints.
- May 21, 2013
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I stopped reading after this, because it simply isn't true.
- Jul 27, 2013
- 6,255
- 2,093
I'd be happy to hear an argument to the contrary.
Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 32,225
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- Thread starter
- #50
Possibly Wallace, we'll never know because he was one of the worst trainers at the club and made life easy for the coaches.
To his credit, he matured, turned his life around and has been among the Broncos best. However, at the time as Bennett described him he was a nightmare.
- May 21, 2013
- 19,708
- 20,983
Taylor's kicking game is better already, and he's played like 7 NRL games.. Hunt has played well over 100. Ashley also showed on the weekend he can run the ball quite well.
You said that Hunt has the better skill set and more tools over Taylor, but you didn't really name any of them, perhaps after you've actually listed some I'll argue them.
- Feb 27, 2010
- 30,041
- 12,315
Taylor is faster, has a much better kicking game, and is a better organiser.
Their passing game is probably on par, while Hunt's running game and defense are better, and he of course has the runs on the board, which should not be underestimated.
- Jul 27, 2013
- 6,255
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I went on in my post to argue my point with objective reasoning. Perhaps if you actually read my post you would have seen this?
- Jul 27, 2013
- 6,255
- 2,093
I would say their speed is on par, the kicking game argument is subjective because the numbers favour Hunt and the organiser label is nearly impossible to prove.
