Debate: Will Ben Hunt reach the heights of Langer and Walters?

[Bucking Beads]

Until he wins a premiership there isbt much to discuss about Humt reaching the same heights as Alfie

 

[teampjta]

Catch 22,

Do we take a gamble on Hunt and hope he lives up to the hype or do we lose a few players and throw everything at DCE?

Agree with alot of the comments above,

1/ The likes of Alfie, Johns, Locky etc a very special types of players that rarely come along
2/ Any great 7 needs a very good and accomplished 6
3/ Risk of first year syndrome
4/ Player remains one dimensional and therefore easy to workout

I guess that's one of the reasons we've hired Bennett, he'll have to make that decision

But for the record, i believe with a great coach (tick) and a good 6 (Barbs is on the right track) hell be a great half,

 

[rhino]

No I don't think he will. I have a feeling A Taylor will become the next Langer not Hunt.. I honestly believe Hunt will wear the 9 at some stage moving forward. I know heaps of people wont agree..........But I think it gives us so much more flair in attack.

1 Boyd 6 Milford 7 A Taylor 9 Hunt 14 Barba

 

[M.B.88]

Catch 22,

Do we take a gamble on Hunt and hope he lives up to the hype or do we lose a few players and throw everything at DCE?

Agree with alot of the comments above,

1/ The likes of Alfie, Johns, Locky etc a very special types of players that rarely come along
2/ Any great 7 needs a very good and accomplished 6
3/ Risk of first year syndrome
4/ Player remains one dimensional and therefore easy to workout

I guess that's one of the reasons we've hired Bennett, he'll have to make that decision

But for the record, i believe with a great coach (tick) and a good 6 (Barbs is on the right track) hell be a great half,

I'm SOOO FUCKING OVER the DCE talk!

It's not happening! Accept it! And move on!

Let's start backing our own and believe in our club. We will move forward. And Ben Hunt will be our guy.

Sorry, just so over it.

 

[M.B.88]

No I don't think he will. I have a feeling A Taylor will become the next Langer not Hunt.. I honestly believe Hunt will wear the 9 at some stage moving forward. I know heaps of people wont agree..........But I think it gives us so much more flair in attack.

1 Boyd 6 Milford 7 A Taylor 9 Hunt 14 Barba

I'm also a little over the Ashley Taylor talk too... I watched him play the other week and he was good. . But not crazy amazing messiah type stuff you all are lording him. . It is still under 20s after all. I can't see him making the side for at least 3-4 years barring major injuries.

 

[subsbligh]

What was it that Bennett, Henjak and Griffin all saw in him as deficient that kept him out of the number 7 in first grade for 6 years behind some pretty weak competition (Wallace, Norman and to a lesser extent Prince)?

Johns, Langer - straight from under 18s to top flight NRL and beyond.

Ben Hunt - served an apprenticeship for 5 seasons and, but for some pretty terrible recruitment decisions (Prince lifeline contract which lead to the culling of Norman and Wallace ahead of him by default), may never have played first grade 7. He got his chance by default and has shined.

He was kept of of decisive NRL finals matches in place of makeshift playmakers (was it Glenn in 2009 versus the Storm after Wallace went down and then Gillett in 2011 after Lockyer's knock).

There was obviously something missing for all those years.

I don't know what it was (maybe his organisational/building pressure skills - he's a great individually brilliant player), but has he found that this year?

 

[Mister Wright]

Just look at the class of players that were in the U20s the same year as Hunt and he was U20s player of the year. You don't get that without having tremendous ability. You also don't singlehandedly consistently win games for your team unless you are a special player. If he was just a 'first grade player' there's no way we'd be in the finals, we would have been fighting it out with Raiders and Sharks for the spoon. This kid has special talent. I really don't like how we're not allowed to celebrate our own players on this forum, but we're able to think the sun shines out of pretty much every player who doesn't wear a Broncos jersey's backside.

 

[Morkel]

What was it that Bennett, Henjak and Griffin all saw in him as deficient that kept him out of the number 7 in first grade for 6 years behind some pretty weak competition (Wallace, Norman and to a lesser extent Prince)?

Johns, Langer - straight from under 18s to top flight NRL and beyond.

Ben Hunt - served an apprenticeship for 5 seasons and, but for some pretty terrible recruitment decisions (Prince lifeline contract which lead to the culling of Norman and Wallace ahead of him by default), may never have played first grade 7. He got his chance by default and has shined.

He was kept of of decisive NRL finals matches in place of makeshift playmakers (was it Glenn in 2009 versus the Storm after Wallace went down and then Gillett in 2011 after Lockyer's knock).

There was obviously something missing for all those years.

I don't know what it was (maybe his organisational/building pressure skills - he's a great individually brilliant player), but has he found that this year?

You make an excellent point. It may be something that we'll never find out, but we can guess. My thought would be defence. It was always a forward brought in as a makeshift half, because we were invariably facing aggressive forward packs and the lack of attacking was, in theory, being countered by improved defence. If that was the case, playing him at hooker has surely worked.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Griffin master stroke......

 

[noisetheory]

SHORT ANSWER: YES

LONGER ANSWER: Maybe not as high as langer, but I think hunt will win a premiership or two with the broncos and play origin footy.

 

[Alec]

Anyone who thinks all these years at hooker have benefited Hunt's development, please share what you've been smoking with me.
The difference between importance of attack and defence for a half is FAR greater than for any other position.

 

[Morkel]

Anyone who thinks all these years at hooker have benefited Hunt's development, please share what you've been smoking with me.
The difference between importance of attack and defence for a half is FAR greater than for any other position.

I always maintain that he would have been better off playing in the #7 in Q-Cup while biding his time. BUT, if he truly had all the skills to be an excellent halfback, but was too much of a liability in defence to risk in first grade, surely you can see why having him tackling 120+kg props in the middle of the field would improve his defensive game.

 

[Alec]

Defending in the middle and on the edges is not the same.

The only thing it has done is toughened him up. Was it worth it by delaying his development by almost a whole 4 years? No IMO.

 

[Mr Fourex]

Defending in the middle and on the edges is not the same.

The only thing it has done is toughened him up. Was it worth it by delaying his development by almost a whole 4 years? No IMO.

Whether it's big arse props in the middle or big arse backrowers on the edge......either way, you've got to have your defensive game in order.

Was it worth it...probably not. I blame Peter Wallace.

 

[Big Pete]

Alfie? No.

Kevie? Yes.

Hunt will end up becoming a premiership player and will play representative football down the line. Just needs to fix a few facets of his game to get there and receive more support from those around them.

Let's not forget that Alf/Kev had the likes of Matterson, O'Neil & later Lockyer to defer to.

Hopefully the likes of Milford, Taylor, Nikorima end up offering Hunt the same support.

 

[Broncoman]

He is finally showing his potential and living up to the expectations that were laid on him which is great to see but Alfie and Kev were special players and it will take a lot from Hunt to reach their standards. He has been great this year in his first full season as a halfback, was close to making his Origin debut and it wouldn't surprise if he got some Dally M recognition.

 

[1910]

What was it that Bennett, Henjak and Griffin all saw in him as deficient that kept him out of the number 7 in first grade for 6 years behind some pretty weak competition (Wallace, Norman and to a lesser extent Prince)?

Johns, Langer - straight from under 18s to top flight NRL and beyond.

Ben Hunt - served an apprenticeship for 5 seasons and, but for some pretty terrible recruitment decisions (Prince lifeline contract which lead to the culling of Norman and Wallace ahead of him by default), may never have played first grade 7. He got his chance by default and has shined.

He was kept of of decisive NRL finals matches in place of makeshift playmakers (was it Glenn in 2009 versus the Storm after Wallace went down and then Gillett in 2011 after Lockyer's knock).

There was obviously something missing for all those years.

I don't know what it was (maybe his organisational/building pressure skills - he's a great individually brilliant player), but has he found that this year?

It was defence and discpline off the field.

 

[subsbligh]

It was defence and discpline off the field.

True, he probably put himself 12 months behind after that incident with McCullough.

Defence wise though, he's shown this year he's a solid defender. He's gone above and beyond actually on occasion and is often the last one there on the cover tackle.