Ben hunt has more then proven himself

[Boy]

When he first came along I doubted him big time
Seemed to hit and miss

Watching him lately as a half he has more then proven myself wrong
But has proved he is te person for the number 7 just no one call him a locky replacement and
We should be good

 

[Bretto]

Massive potential. Has all the skills, just needs to get his head right and find some consistency.

 

[Dazzat]

As with all halfbacks Hunt will blossom behind a dominant pack. If Kennedy to add a bit of starch to the pack next year it will definitely help Hunt's game. We really need another front rower ... but I digress.

I think Hunt's greatest attribute is his vision - as demonstrated tonight with the first try.

 

[Broncos fan!]

I've been quite impressed with Hunt. He just needs to work on his fitness and being consistent for the entire 80, but I have no doubt that will come with a full off season and a few more 80 min games.

The big question now is who is going to partner him in 2014? It may be a different situation when he has to run the show himself if we have a rookie 5/8 alongside him, that's a lot of pressure. Lets hope we can get Milford.

 

[lockyno1]

Just imagine if that silly coach of ours made the move 3 months ago!

 

[gUt]

Just needs 5 or 6 more seasons as the bench hooker.

 

[00digger00]

That was a great pass that put Oates down the sideline!!

 

[Dazzat]

Just imagine if that silly coach of ours made the move 3 months ago!

I agree ... that one decision at the start of the year, and we'd be in the finals.

 

[Big Pete]

Hunt was given a shot 3 months prior...how many times does it need to be said?

 

[austyphoon]

Hunt was given a shot 3 months prior...how many times does it need to be said?

I tried to forget last year but didn't he partner Norman for a few matches?

 

[Big Pete]

Last year he only played a couple of games with Norman, which coincidentally were Norman's best games.

He received his shot later but partnered Wallace with Norman at fullback.

 

[Dazzat]

Hunt was given a shot 3 months prior...how many times does it need to be said?

There's a difference between being "given a shot" and given the position, particularly for a relatively young player.

In terms of confidence and a sense of purpose, most players will always perform better if they know that they have some scope to make mistakes.

With Wallace hovering, Hunt knew he was on a hiding to nothing.

 

[Big Pete]

If we were to judge Hook's use of Ben Hunt on this season alone, I'd be fine with it. From all reports, Ben Hunt wasn't playing that well in the trials and the pick of the bunch was Prince/Wallace. Now, I was calling for Hunt to be selected in the halves a lot sooner than he was but others argued that the incumbents were developing as a pairing and we shouldn't tinker with a winning side. Hook saw it this way too and stuck with it until Prince went down with an injury in Round 9.

Hunt was given an opportunity up to Round 12 to prove himself and was even preferred ahead of Wallace. The problem was, the move coincided with the Origin period, a stressful time for the club where the club struggles to field a consistent 17. Hunt's performance in that game was terrible and it proved that he wasn't ready to handle the responsibility during that time.

Fast forward to Round 20 and I don't think it was a coincidence to see him re-instated as halfback as soon as we had our full contingent back. Hunt has been very patchy and you can understand why Hook was hesitant to play him. He's still very rough around the edges and is a big question mark at this stage.

However, if we were going back to when Hook first started, I don't think he's used Hunt well at all. The point of playing a half off the bench is to get them used to the speed of the game and see how they handle it. Hunt had already done this in 2010 and showed improvement. Yet, Hook seemed content to keep him there and I believe it hurt him in the long run.

Despite this, I also think Broncos fans have the tendency of overrating Hunt. I believe he is better than what he has shown so far, but he seems to have this reputation of being the best NYC player when really he was the beneficiary of playing the most games. As somebody who attended a lot of NYC games at that time, I didn't even think he was the best Bronco - I thought that honor belonged to Hoffman & McCullough and that opinion was vindicated when Bennett selected them.

TL;DR - Hook's use of Hunt in 2013 was justifiable. From 2011-12? Not so much...However, still remains to be seen whether Griffin had a turd sandwich vs. giant douche to contend with in the halves. 2014 will be a huge year on a lot of fronts I guess...

 

[Kiwi]

Watch this space

rather cryptic

 

[Big Pete]

Ha, just thought I'd write a proper response.

For what it's worth, I really hope Ben Hunt kicks on. The story of having him, McCullough, McGuire, Glenn, Gillett, Hoffman, Yow Yeh etc. leading the club to success would be sweet.

 

[Bretto]

Last year he only played a couple of games with Norman, which coincidentally were Norman's best games.

He received his shot later but partnered Wallace with Norman at fullback.

Pete, after reading this comment, don't you find it interesting that Norman's best footy was played with Hunt at Halfback, Prince's best footy was played with Hunt at Halfback and Hunt's worst footy was played with Wallace at 5/8?

I still remember Hunt and Norman tearing Canberra to pieces last year. It was some of the best attacking footy I've seen from Brisbane in some time.

 

[Dazzat]

The coach's decision to play Hunt off the bench for so long is so telling because of the cascade effect that had throughout the entire team - it's just not about Hunt (I''m sure we've gone through all this before).

Hunt playing off the bench meant other players play out of position as well, young, promising players not being given opportunities, and an overall impression that the team was disjointed and slapped together.

In hindsight it's easy to say Wallace should have been dropped a long time ago, but it would have been a huge call by Griffin - a very courageous call indeed. And I guess one can't blame him for not making that call.

But the cascade effect is really overflowing into next year now as well. How ironic, that the player the coach refused to play in the halves most of the year (Hunt) is now our only player in that position for next year! Ironic in the highest order.

Hunt is the Steven Bradbury of Broncos halves.

 

[Big Pete]

Pete, after reading this comment, don't you find it interesting that Norman's best footy was played with Hunt at Halfback, Prince's best footy was played with Hunt at Halfback and Hunt's worst footy was played with Wallace at 5/8?

I still remember Hunt and Norman tearing Canberra to pieces last year. It was some of the best attacking footy I've seen from Brisbane in some time.

I was a big fan of the Norman/Hunt pairing and thought they deserved an opportunity post-Origin last year. However, a mounting injury toll and other factors prevented it from happening. Now, I don't think it would have won us the premiership or anything but in hindsight it would have been interesting to see how it played out. On paper, the idea of throwing two rookie halves in the deep end isn't exactly ideal...on the other hand rewarding a player for career worst form isn't exactly smart either...