I've been gathering my thoughts on losing Hunt and here is what I've come up with:
Hunt leaving
I am extremely disappointed to lose Hunt, while he isn't the perfect halfback by any means, he is super talented and there any that many in the NRL better than him.
That said, i don't think he is worth a million a season just yet, and i would never sign a player to a 6 year contract. However the offer from the Dragons would have been far too good to refuse, and i don't blame him accepting, especially given the limited shelf life of rugby league players.
I also think the pressure on Milford to become a complete half has just skyrocketed, given he won't be able to hide behind Hunt anymore (since Hunt seems to cop all of the blame for our perceived playmaking woes)
Hunt's Replacement
Of the off contract halves for 2018, i would be going hard at Shaun Johnson. he has his deficiencies as well, but maybe a change of club and change of culture would work wonders for him.
other potential replacements are:
Luke Brooks - I'm not sold on him TBH, but that could be just the shitty Tigpies system that he is in.
Mitchell Pearce - Problem child, shit rep player, decent club player
I also don't know why people keep mentioning players that are still contracted for 2018 and beyond. while players are released from contracts frequently, the clubs have to still be prepared to grant the release, and very few clubs (if any) will release a quality playmaker. Milford is a perfect example of this, we wanted him a year early, the Raiders said **** you he is going nowhere and he played that final season with the Raiders before joining us. (Ponga is another example of this)
so that leaves us with either chasing uncontracted players, nuffies or sacrificing a season to wait for a good halfback to come off contract