And now are you glad we have signed Ben Hunt ?

[Overseas dragon]

Back in Jan when we first signed Hunt, one of the things Millward made clear was how much they liked it when Hunt drifted across both sides of the field. Millward and the coaches believed that Hunt is at his most potent when he's floating (like in 2014/15), and not confined to one side of the field.
I'd expect to see that at the Dragons in 2018.

Yes exactly that way we have Widdop one side and hunt the other most of the time unlikely hunt and Widdop on the same side.........

 

[BennyV]

Yes exactly that way we have Widdop one side and hunt the other most of the time unlikely hunt and Widdop on the same side.........

That's the complete opposite of what he said...

The idea is that Hunt isn't confined to one side of the field, he plays both sides to increase effectiveness. From this, it's safe enough to assume that 5/8 and fullback play mainly left and right.

Although let's be real - there's no way Mary puts that much thought into his attacking structure.

 

[getsmarty]

Ben has St George-Illawarra Dragons in the Hunt to find a magnificent seven
MICHAEL CARAYANNIS, The Sunday Telegraph
January 21, 2018 7:00am
Subscriber only

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• Wests Tigers halfback Luke Brooks is in control and ready to rock

THERE’S been Lachlan Russell, Chris Sheppard and Keiran Kerr. For so long St George Illawarra’s No.7 jersey has been the side’s Achilles Heel. Even the most-capped halfback since 1999 was a makeshift one in skipper Ben Hornby.

Outside Hornby’s 160 games at halfback for the Dragons only Mat Head and Benji Marshall have managed to chalk up more than 50 games. Russell and Sheppard headline a list of one-game wonders in the role which also includes the likes of Chase Stanley, Albert Torrens and even Jack De Belin.

The Dragons have used 25 halfbacks in 18 years including Trent Barrett, Jason Hooper, Willie Peters and Brett Firman but the arrival of Ben Hunt on the club’s first million-dollar-a-season contract is expected to give the club the stability it has long craved.

Million-dollar Dragon Ben Hunt is settling in nicely. Picture: Dylan Robinson
Hunt, 27, is under no illusions about the lofty expectations which are placed on his shoulders.

“The Dragons wanted me to come here to be a dominate half,” Hunt said. “I want to play a good consistent year the whole way through. At times during my career I’ve been a bit patchy and not playing consistent football.

“I want to play some more rep footy. That’s a big goal for me. We’ve got a team here to make the finals and play well in the finals. That’s where we need to be headed. They just missed out on the finals last year and we’ve got a better team now.”

Hunt’s arrival is certain to lift the pressure from Gareth Widdop’s shoulders. The Dragons have been unable to find a regular partner for Widdop in the halves since the skipper’s arrival from Melbourne in 2014. He and Marshall failed to jell while last season he starred despite essentially carrying the fortunes of the Dragons attack on his own.

A very sorry saga for St George-Illawarra.
“He had a lot of work on his shoulders last year and played excellent,” Hunt said. “I need to take some of the load off him so we can attack both sides of the field.

“He is one of the best halves in the competition. I’ve got to come here and play my game and compliment him as well. That’s what I need to work on.

“You spend time together but more so at training we need to do a lot of repetition to make sure we know how each other plays.”

Hunt had a rocky road before arriving at the Dragons this year. He was axed to Queensland Cup but shortly after found himself thriving into dummy half for the Broncos before going on to make his Origin debut and reclaim a Kangaroos jersey.

“It was a strange year,” Hunt said. “Playing that rep footy puts a spring in your step and makes you feel good about your footy. It gets me excited about this year.

Even rugged forward Jack de Belin has a run in the No.7. Picture: Brett Costello
“I got dropped after we’d just got badly beaten in New Zealand. I knew I wasn’t playing great football but I knew I was coming back from my hamstring injury and I wasn’t feeling my best. Once I got a bit of footy under my belt I knew I would be right to go again.”

Hunt is adjusting to life away from Brisbane for the first time. He has moved into the Sutherland Shire and has joined the regular Sydneysiders car pool to training in Wollongong with Jason Nightingale and Tyson Frizell.

“I was nervous and excited,” Hunt said. “I felt like it was my first day of school. I was excited but I didn’t know what to expect. I barely knew anyone.

“Sydney is a little bit different, a little crazier. Driving around is busier. I’m enjoying it. Living in the Cronulla area and near the beach, it’s full of nice cafes.”

The Dragons will not have to wait long to see their marquee signing with Hunt hoping to line up against Hull in their opening trial on February 17.

“I’ve told Mary (coach Paul McGregor) I want to play as much as I can,” Hunt said. “Even if it’s not with Gareth I want to play so I get to know what the rest of the team is doing.”


https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...n/news-story/b6444679ac944a3b887ee75060fb9ad9

 

[TomRedVRiver]

Hunt HAS TO play both sides of the ruck this year. He was at his most dominant in 2014/15 when he was allowed to roam (much like guys like Thurston/Cronk/Taylor etc). He can't be confined to one side of the field like in his later years at the Broncos and like Mary did with Widdop last year. He has a lot of weapons in his attacking arsenal, and we can't reap the rewards of that if he's playing strictly on the right side of the field.

There is a lot being said about Hunt coming in to alleviate some of the pressure on Widdop so that he can play his natural game, but I think that Hunt is far more dangerous when he's playing his natural game and not too structured.

 

[dragonssamy61]

Hunt HAS TO play both sides of the ruck this year. He was at his most dominant in 2014/15 when he was allowed to roam (much like guys like Thurston/Cronk/Taylor etc). He can't be confined to one side of the field like in his later years at the Broncos and like Mary did with Widdop last year. He has a lot of weapons in his attacking arsenal, and we can't reap the rewards of that if he's playing strictly on the right side of the field.

There is a lot being said about Hunt coming in to alleviate some of the pressure on Widdop so that he can play his natural game, but I think that Hunt is far more dangerous when he's playing his natural game and not too structured.

Tom
Agree with you.
Even Mary can not be that stupid.
He will play both sides.
IMo

 

[Overseas dragon]

Tom
Agree with you.
Even Mary cant be that stupid.
He will play both sides.
IMo

Even Mary CAN be that stupid and also the idiots who extended him

 

[Old Timer]

Take it as a given that we are all happy for Hunt's signing.
The real question is at the end of 2018 will Hunt be happy knowing he has at least 1 more year with Mc Fookknuckle and the real possibility that if we did finish 7th or 8th that Mc Fookknuckle could be extended for the rest of Hunt's time with the club.
Mediocrity for the coach could mean reward but Hunt is staking his rep career on being able to expand his game so the outcome will be very interesting to watch.

 

[TomRedVRiver]

I've done a little bit of research, and it's clear that the club wants a halfback that plays 'on the ball'. I think we are going to see quite a significant reshuffle of our attack in 2018 to accomodate Hunt so that he can play both sides of the field.
Millward said in an interview with Ben Ikin on the 'NRL Market Watch Podcast' that in 2014/15, with halves coach Kevin Walters, they had Hunt playing on the ball. In 2016, when some say he was out of form or still rattled from the drop ball in the GF, it was actually because he had a positional change where he was restricted to the right side of the field. Walters had actually left the club at the end of 2015 as well to take up the QLD job. The club are 100% aware of where Hunt's strengths lie, and they're looking to bring that out in him.

I don't think we're going to see the split halves tactic in 2018, it looks like both Hunt and Widdop are going to be changing it up on both sides of the ruck, which is very pleasing.

 

[BennyV]

Dont underestimate the idiocy of our coaching staff. Mary knows one game plan, I fully expect to see Hunt playing on the right 90% of the time.

 

[giboz71]

That's the complete opposite of what he said...

The idea is that Hunt isn't confined to one side of the field, he plays both sides to increase effectiveness. From this, it's safe enough to assume that 5/8 and fullback play mainly left and right.

Although let's be real - there's no way Mary puts that much thought into his attacking structure.

What you’ve just described, the Cowboys employ this structure best with Coote playing a legitimate first receiver role on one side, allowing Thurston to roam. Noticed this most in the 2015 GF, where I was amazed just how many touches Coote got at first receiver.

Two things will hold us back if we try to do this. Mary is a clueless coach for one. But also, Dufty isn’t a legitimate first receiver option at this point in his career.

 

[dragonssamy61]

What you’ve just described, the Cowboys employ this structure best with Coote playing a legitimate first receiver role on one side, allowing Thurston to roam. Noticed this most in the 2015 GF, where I was amazed just how many touches Coote got at first receiver.

Two things will hold us back if we try to do this. Mary is a clueless coach for one. But also, Dufty isn’t a legitimate first receiver option at this point in his career.

I see your point giboz.
But I can see use using widdop as 1st receiver and even occasionally Graham .
Hopefully anyway

 

[possm]

I really don't know what all the fuss is about. In my opinion Hunt will have the luxury in playing both sides of the field when he feels it to be a good thing to do. I honestly believe he will play on the right when he deems it necessary.

I expect Mary to employ the power plan again early in the season, only this time we have a tougher run in the early rounds. If our forwards can get on top against the Broncos, I would expect Hunt to be causing them some headaches in defence however, if the Dragons cannot dominate in the forwards, I expect us to have a very difficult time containing the Bronco's backline.

 

[saintm]

What you’ve just described, the Cowboys employ this structure best with Coote playing a legitimate first receiver role on one side, allowing Thurston to roam. Noticed this most in the 2015 GF, where I was amazed just how many touches Coote got at first receiver.

Two things will hold us back if we try to do this. Mary is a clueless coach for one. But also, Dufty isn’t a legitimate first receiver option at this point in his career.

Dufty played a lot in the halves until Hornby moved him to fullback. Could handle it if trained for it.

 

[giboz71]

Dufty played a lot in the halves until Hornby moved him to fullback. Could handle it if trained for it.

I’m sure he can. And it was probably why Millward was keen to move Duges to centre knowing Hunt was coming, thus making it more critical for the fullback to play that 2nd 5/8 role (like Coote, Moylan Boyd etc).

If Dufty can pull it off allowing Hunt to play both sides, it will greatly improve our chances.

 

[Overseas dragon]

I really don't know what all the fuss is about. In my opinion Hunt will have the luxury in playing both sides of the field when he feels it to be a good thing to do. I honestly believe he will play on the right when he deems it necessary.

I expect Mary to employ the power plan again early in the season, only this time we have a tougher run in the early rounds. If our forwards can get on top against the Broncos, I would expect Hunt to be causing them some headaches in defence however, if the Dragons cannot dominate in the forwards, I expect us to have a very difficult time containing the Bronco's backline.

The BRONCOS backline has speed speed speed and even more speed .the DRAGONS backline snails

 

[TomRedVRiver]

I know this won't mean much to some people and i'm sure that we'll have a few people dismiss this immediately, but SuperCoach stats can be very telling of a player's work-rate and attacking contributions. Not sure if these numbers will mean anything to anyone, but basically anything above 60 is very good.

In 2014, Ben Hunt averaged 71.5, which is huge. He was pumping out the try assists and line-breaks playing on both sides of the field.
In 2015, he averaged 65. Still very impressive. This is when Milford came into the side so the attack was shared with Milf and Hunt, but he was still playing both sides and his involvements took the Broncos to a Grand Final.
In 2016, he averaged 55 after his positional change. He was confined to that side of the field and his usual line-breaks and try assists weren't as consistent.

I actually think that Hunts game suffered as a result of this positional change. His kicking game wasn't as effective and he had quite a few inconsistent patches. In 2014/15, everything he touched turned to gold.

 

[Overseas dragon]

The BRONCOS backline has speed speed speed and even more speed .the DRAGONS backline snails

And I'm tipping the Broncos top 4 sorry to say .....I don't like them but I think you will find from reports I'm getting they will go well ....

 

[Life's Good]

For all his faults I can't see Supercoach instructing Hunt to play one side of the field. If you think back to Benji, he played both sides and even McCrone floated from left to right(I would have prefered left right out!).
The other thing is that the strength of Hunt is his running game which requires him to be 'everywhere' if you are to utilise his key strength. In combination with a straight running Widdop(who looks the goods when doing so)I expect our initial attack to look really good.

 

[giboz71]

I think the most important thing regardless of whether Hunt plays both sides is we need to add more variety.

Our pet play was to swing it left to Widdop who would either kick or give it out to Lafai to do his tricks, and Nighty ending up with the ball, unable to beat his defender. On the odd occasion, Nighty would run 5 metres to score.

This play proved to be futile come the end of the season as every man and his dog knew it was coming.

Hunt will provide another focal point, but Dufty and McInnes need to do their bit too. No coincidence that the Storm are so successful when each member of their spine can trigger an attack.

Makes me shudder to think for the better part of 3 years, we had Benji, Rein and Duges trying to the same.

 

[BennyV]

What you’ve just described, the Cowboys employ this structure best with Coote playing a legitimate first receiver role on one side, allowing Thurston to roam. Noticed this most in the 2015 GF, where I was amazed just how many touches Coote got at first receiver.

Two things will hold us back if we try to do this. Mary is a clueless coach for one. But also, Dufty isn’t a legitimate first receiver option at this point in his career.

I think the intention is for Hunt himself to play as first receiver, using Widdop and Dufty on either side as the additional player. The direct running of Hunt and the additional threat he poses with ball in hand should be enough to hold the defense up, but our training tactics may not allow it - slow, mistimed and clunky play like we saw in 2016 and half of last year may be a downfall.

I dont think Dufty holds a lot of value as a first receiver. I just hope to hell we dont see more of the JDB (or other forward) at first receiver with the dumbass predictable 2-step-and-pass...