Dragons: Hunt looking to up ante against Souths
Dragons Den News
MEASURED: New Dragons half Ben Hunt plans to build on a solid first-up display for his new club in this weekend's Charity Shield. Picture: AAP
DRAGONS half Ben Hunt will be looking for a more dominant display in this weekend’s Charity Shield after a measured first-up effort against Hull on Saturday.
The big-money recruit had some good touches in a 72-minute club debut but deferred the bulk of play-making efforts to skipper Gareth Widdop.
The 28-year-old said he’d been wary of over-playing his hand in his first hit-out, but will have no such concern against South Sydney at Mudgee this week.
“I sort of started a bit slow and felt my way into the game,” Hunt said post-match.
“I felt I was in a new side so I just tried to work my way into the game a bit rather than getting my hands on the ball and taking [on] the game.
“Going forward I need to be a bit different to that, I need to inject myself into the game straight away. I’m the halfback here and that’s what they need from me.
“Through this trial and hopefully next week I can start getting my hands on the ball a bit earlier. It’s something I need to work on and get myself into the game.
“[But] I was quite enjoying myself out there. It’s always fun to have your first hit-out and, being with a new team, it was really enjoyable.”
Hunt’s arrival at his new club was a belated one following last year’s World Cup.
It limited his time on the training paddock and Origin and Test utility said combinations will inevitably take some time to develop.
“It’s a tricky one. We’re working pretty hard at it, I can’t really say how long it’s going to take,” Hunt said.
“Coming into a completely new side I’ve got to work out how everyone plays so it’s going to take a little while.
“It’s going pretty quickly and everything we have been doing is moving along very fast but it’s going to take a few weeks to really work out how players play.
“It’s not just me and Gaz, I’ve got to learn how Cam [McInnes] likes to play, how [Matt] Dufty likes to play.
“I’ll have Friz [Tyson Frizell] on my edge, I need to learn how he’s going to play the game and even your forwards, you need to work out which guys get the quick play-the-balls for you so there’s a lot to it.”
Perhaps the most encouraging sign for Hunt was the ease with which he linked with fullback Matt Dufty.
The pair combined to lay on Jason Nightingale’ first-half try and caused the Hull defence no end of headaches on the right edge.
Having spent the latter part of his career with the Broncos alongside Darius Boyd, Hunt is well aware how much of a blessing it is to have a ball-playing No. 1.
“He’s a good little player Duft,” Hunt said.
“You give him the ball out the back with a tiny bit of room he’s going to make it into a lot of room.
“He’s got a lot of speed and he’s is really electric so the more times we can get the ball to him with space, it’s going to do some damage.
“It’s massive bonus when you’ve got such quality out the back on your plays. It definitely helps us [halves] for sure.
“You’ve just got to know when to get them the ball and they’ll do the rest.”
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