RUMOUR: Eels interested in Hunt

[Rico]

When DCE is on more than double what we are paying him it's probably natural to test the market. No doubt his grubby agent would be telling him that every week.

We dont lose players we want to keep and particularly halves and he's one of them and with no clear replacement in sight Wayne won't let that happen.

 

[animal eater]

I won't lose sleep over whether Hunt is here or not here for the long term. When you look at the crop of young halfbacks coming through like Taylor, Clearey, etc you start to see that Hunt certainly isn't the end all be all.

 

[Mister Wright]

People get so short sighted after we lose. Since Ben Hunt & Anthony Milford have been our full time halves combination we have been 6 seconds away from a grand final win and made it to the 2nd week of the finals where we were 90 seconds away from taking out last year's premiership winning team on their home turf. Both players are still young and have most of their football in front of them. Milford is only in his 4th season (maybe even 3rd) and only his 2nd as a starting 5/8. Ben Hunt is only in his 2nd season as a starting halfback, it would be very short-sighted of us to give up on this pairing so early in their combination. The likes of Thurston, Smith, Cronk & Slater only have a few years at best left in them and once they go they're going to leave a big hole in the premiership. I'm sure hoping when they do, that we have an experienced halves pair who experienced what it was like to be taken out by a champion in the closing stages and will grow into those roles. I sure as hell do not want to have a new partnership that don't share those attributes and have to rebuild right at the time we should be dominating.

So for me, if we are to lose Hunt to Parramatta it would be the biggest loss in the club's history given everything in context. I'm not talking about players that we never had, I'm talking about players we have had. We must keep this pairing together.

 

[Jason Simmons]

People get so short sighted after we lose. Since Ben Hunt & Anthony Milford have been our full time halves combination we have been 6 seconds away from a grand final win and made it to the 2nd week of the finals where we were 90 seconds away from taking out last year's premiership winning team on their home turf. Both players are still young and have most of their football in front of them. Milford is only in his 4th season (maybe even 3rd) and only his 2nd as a starting 5/8. Ben Hunt is only in his 2nd season as a starting halfback, it would be very short-sighted of us to give up on this pairing so early in their combination. The likes of Thurston, Smith, Cronk & Slater only have a few years at best left in them and once they go they're going to leave a big hole in the premiership. I'm sure hoping when they do, that we have an experienced halves pair who experienced what it was like to be taken out by a champion in the closing stages and will grow into those roles. I sure as hell do not want to have a new partnership that don't share those attributes and have to rebuild right at the time we should be dominating.

So for me, if we are to lose Hunt to Parramatta it would be the biggest loss in the club's history given everything in context. I'm not talking about players that we never had, I'm talking about players we have had. We must keep this pairing together.

Hunt has had 3 full seasons now as starting half for the Broncs (2014,15 and 16) and almost half of the 2013 season as starting half. He made his first grade debut in 2009 and has now played 166 NRL games and multiple rep games.

I like Ben Hunt but the idea he is an 'up and come'er' who just needs a bit more time to develop is starting to wear just a tad thin...

 

[Unbreakable]

I like Ben Hunt but the idea he is an 'up and come'er' who just needs a bit more time to develop is starting to wear just a tad thin...

Not wrong, he'll be the first player in his mid 30's to have a supporter base asking to "give him a little more time".. When is enough enough?

 

[Super Freak]

McCullough's kicking game is not the issue with this team.

It kind of is in a way, he doesn't do enough of it.

Apart from that one bad kick on Friday night, his kicking this year has been brilliant. He finds the grass, he kicks it into space which allows our chasers more time to get down there. It's by far better than Milford and Hunt's kicking combined.

And he is very good at kicking 40/20's.

To me, he is a lot like Smith with his kicking game.

And I think that's part of the problem with our kicking game. Every team knows who is going to kick on the 5th. I think that's why Hunt is kicking more early in the count, to try and surprise the opposition but his kicking just isn't good enough at the moment.

To me, part of the problem is Macca not doing enough kicking. Especially Milford. We don't even have a back up plan if Hunt gets rushed. What do they call it, a 1, 2? Where the half passes the ball to the other half when he is rushed which allows the other half more room and time to put in a good kick.

 

[Super Freak]

I agree that they're concerning, but realistically he hasn't even had a second chance yet.. we just going with 1 strike policy now?

I doubt it, we've got James Roberts..

I agree, he deserves a second chance. But not yet.

The problems Roberts had doesn't even compare to the problems Foran is having and the problems he is about to face. Things are going to get worse for him before they get better and it's not just a matter of flicking a switch and turning it around. It's going to take some time for him to get his shit together and to get his head straight. From the sounds of it, the Eels tried really hard with him, but he just wasn't getting the help he needed and they had to make the call to get rid of him.

Add on the whole match-fixing scandal. As I said before, things are about to get worse for him before they get better and right now he isn't in the right head space.

We don't need that at our club.

If he gets his shit together, gets his head right and he is turning his life around, sure I would love to have him at the club. But not yet.

 

[winslow_wong]

I say hunt deserves another year to see how he develops. Losing him for next year would be a disaster. He just doesn't seem deep enough when kicking and gets rushed. Remember the days when Alfie would pass it wayyy back to locky and locky would launch torpedoes. Good times.

 

[Mister Wright]

Hunt has had 3 full seasons now as starting half for the Broncs (2014,15 and 16) and almost half of the 2013 season as starting half. He made his first grade debut in 2009 and has now played 166 NRL games and multiple rep games.

I like Ben Hunt but the idea he is an 'up and come'er' who just needs a bit more time to develop is starting to wear just a tad thin...

He's not an up & comer as far as first grade experience goes, but he still has L plates as a halfback. It took Lockyer a good 3 seasons to truly become a class 5/8 & that was after being a full time 80 minute player. You cannot use Hunt's time as a back up 9 & sporadic appearances in the halves as a reason why he should be better than he is now. It is a completely different position with much more pressure-added skill set.

 

[Dash]

He's not an up & comer as far as first grade experience goes, but he still has L plates as a halfback. It took Lockyer a good 3 seasons to truly become a class 5/8 & that was after being a full time 80 minute player. You cannot use Hunt's time as a back up 9 & sporadic appearances in the halves as a reason why he should be better than he is now. It is a completely different position with much more pressure-added skill set.

He will be around 100 games as a halfback during the coming season. It generally takes any player 100 games to really settle into first grade.

I would say next year is definitely the year to show whether he'll be a first class halfback or just a decent one.

 

[Porthoz]

I can't believe how much people rationalise Hunt's flaws.

Are we seriously suggesting that someone that has played 8 years of NRL, including 98 starts as a half, is still "green" (or on L plates), when the average career of an NRL player is 3 to 4 years and 43 games?

Of course, Hunt still has improvement in him, but at this stage of his career, it will be experience that may allow him to improve his management skills, and hopefully making better decisions, not his technical prowess. His kicking is not suddenly going to be accurate, and he's not gonna be much better at putting players to his right into holes though...

 

[Dash]

I can't believe how much people rationalise Hunt's flaws.

Are we seriously suggesting that someone that has played 8 years of NRL, including 98 starts as a half, is still "green" (or on L plates), when the average career of an NRL player is 3 to 4 years and 43 games?

Of course, Hunt still has improvement in him, but at this stage of his career, it will be experience that may allow him to improve his management skills, and hopefully making better decisions, not his technical prowess. His kicking is not suddenly going to be accurate, and he's not gonna be much better at putting players to his right into holes though...

To be fair to Hunt, when has Gillett ever run a line? It's impossible to put a guy through a hole when he's standing still.

If Hunt doesn't improve significantly at game management next year (which is a far more pressing issue than his kicking), it's time to find someone better. I think next year is going to be a bit of a rebuilding year anyway, so I'm happy to give him that time.

 

[Nashy]

It's now at the point where the last thing we need is to disrupt our halves. It will be suicide for at least 1 - 2 years to form new combinations.

 

[Dash]

It's now at the point where the last thing we need is to disrupt our halves. It will be suicide for at least 1 - 2 years to form new combinations.

We formed a new combination last year and it went alright. Michael Morgan only started in the halves last year IIRC. Sharks brought Maloney in just this year and they've improved. While it's not always going to work, it's definitely possible. If we can get the rest of the team settled and bring in the right player it can work.

That being said, I would prefer to stick with the 2 we have. But if they can't get the job done, there's no sense in sticking with them just to avoid making new combinations.

 

[Samir]

Milford, Hunt and Nikorima are all the same player. They are running halves and none of them have a strong kicking game. It was a good idea at the time to let Taylor go as the other 3 were in great form but I'm starting to think we should have let Nikorima go and put Ash Taylor on the bench. He offers much more organization and a strong kicking game.. Something that certainly costs us a fair bit

 

[Cult]

2016 Milford is barely a running half.

 

[winslow_wong]

2016 Milford is barely a running half.

A dancing, fumbling, slightly portly and death staring half he was

 

[nostradamus]

To be fair to Hunt, when has Gillett ever run a line? It's impossible to put a guy through a hole when he's standing still.

If Hunt doesn't improve significantly at game management next year (which is a far more pressing issue than his kicking), it's time to find someone better. I think next year is going to be a bit of a rebuilding year anyway, so I'm happy to give him that time.

Interesting observation Dash if Hunt would actually pass the ball to Gillett he may run into a hole instead being used as a decoy every set. Please note no other half 5/8 has trouble putting there Backrow into Holes even Mitch Pearce can do it with ease.

EDIT: Don't avoid the profanity filter.