Hunt agrees to monster 6 year deal.

[mickeylane]

Hunt is a pure playmaker - a genuine no 7 more so than Pearce, Reynolds, Mbye, Hodgkinson, Cherry Evans.. He plays the game in very similar vein to Kevin Walters. Runs straight, has a great short kicking game, a beautiful long cut out pass to feed a backline if something is on out wide and more importantly has the most try assists of any number No 7 in the past 2 seasons.. Seriously anyone doubting his value has no idea!!

 

[God-King Dean]

I doubt his value

 

[the lame dragon 48]

seems to me a few years ago when justin hodges was going from the broncos to the roosters bennett punted him to siberia and didnt use him i wonder what effect mr hunts defection to the dragons will have on mr bennett

 

[BringTheNoise]

Genuine question - can anyone tell me a time a 5 year contract worked out well? I can't recall any.

I think this move is a bigger gamble for Hunt than it is for the Dragons. By leaving one of the best coaches and clubs in the game and signing with the Dragons he has potentially kissed goodbye any opportunity he had to play rep footy. This type of contract puts a lot of pressure on him to perform, especially at club with a fan base that ruthlessly demands success. All the money in the world means nothing if you're not enjoying your football.

I do believe Hunt is player you can build a team around, however it has been many years since this club has shown any sort of strategic thinking when it comes to recruitment and retention. Everything has been reactive and basically throwing money at players purely because they are available and we have the cash, and retaining players purely because they've shown some promise. This has lead to us playing with one of the most unbalanced spines in the competition pretty much since Bennett left.

Basically for me the jury is still out on this signing. I hope it works out for club and player, but I have been disappointed so many times since 2011 that I've learned to become skeptical about everything.

 

[thebigredv]

Well done to the club. Credit where it is due. Hopefully we will still be able to retain/sign more quality players...but I am happy that we have actually landed a quality player.

 

[Dragsters]

Da-boom-tish!

[Insert Tension Building, Rolling Drums]

 

[possm]

Without a proper coach the playing squad would never realize it's full potential.

Now name Cleary as coach for 2018

 

[JDHD]

Genuine question - can anyone tell me a time a 5 year contract worked out well? I can't recall any.

I think this move is a bigger gamble for Hunt than it is for the Dragons. By leaving one of the best coaches and clubs in the game and signing with the Dragons he has potentially kissed goodbye any opportunity he had to play rep footy. This type of contract puts a lot of pressure on him to perform, especially at club with a fan base that ruthlessly demands success. All the money in the world means nothing if you're not enjoying your football.

I do believe Hunt is player you can build a team around, however it has been many years since this club has shown any sort of strategic thinking when it comes to recruitment and retention. Everything has been reactive and basically throwing money at players purely because they are available and we have the cash, and retaining players purely because they've shown some promise. This has lead to us playing with one of the most unbalanced spines in the competition pretty much since Bennett left.

Basically for me the jury is still out on this signing. I hope it works out for club and player, but I have been disappointed so many times since 2011 that I've learned to become skeptical about everything.

Feels like Mark Coyne might have had a bit to do with this. Dragons legend from Queensland with a strong business background.

 

[jeffdragon]

Of course as we have nobody for 2017
Hunt is just what we need ,welcome him with open arms

 

[2010]

If those supporters think it is to much money and want to keep flogging the dropped ball take a look at this utube video and then ask yourself is he worth the money

 

[hazzbeen]

first genuine number 7 since Matty Head ......

 

[Forster Dragon]

We could sign the entire Kangaroo squad and some Dragon supporters would still find cause for complaint.
We have needed a quality half for some time and now we have one.Just be happy that we have finally landed a top shelf signing that the Broncos did want to retain.
Admittedly we may have had to pay top dollar but will prove a good role model and mentor for our younger players coming through.
Well done to the Administration of the Club.

 

[SBD82]

I'm not on here to troll and say you have done the wrong thing.

Just pointing out the fact it was a farce when we did it, now its a great idea.

You guys needed a Hunt so fair play.

I thought it would work out badly for manly when they signed DCE to a long term contract. Yet to be seen if I was right, but you also couldn't say that it's been a huge success so far (other factors have of course played a part in this)

I think this will work out badly for us too. I'd love to be proven wrong - and proven right about manly - time will tell I suppose.

 

[the lame dragon 48]

any chance that jason demetriou had something to do with this signing and another thought if mary is desposed off after shall we say half a season that jason is appointed coach i assume he would be able to leave the broncos as hes only assistant there

 

[Mr Red]

Poor Hutch!

Hutch has this season to prove himself and with Widdop off contract there is nothing stopping a Hunt/Hutch combination in 2018 if he has a good season.
Hutch has the size and running game to transition to five eighth quite easily if needed..

 

[JDHD]

Hunt is a pure playmaker - a genuine no 7 more so than Pearce, Reynolds, Mbye, Hodgkinson, Cherry Evans.. He plays the game in very similar vein to Kevin Walters. Runs straight, has a great short kicking game, a beautiful long cut out pass to feed a backline if something is on out wide and more importantly has the most try assists of any number No 7 in the past 2 seasons.. Seriously anyone doubting his value has no idea!!

Absolutely agree. One of our many problems in attack is we go side to side or run a bunch of block plays fifteen metres before the line and wonder why we can't score. Hunt plays more direct than almost any half in the comp outside of Cronk.

 

[Old Timer]

This is a very good signing and at last we have hooked a bigger fish
This is a real upgrade
The announcement is nice and early which gives hope but alas I fear what we will be dished up in the short term
We have had lots of good news re signings but still mass confusion as to the composition for 2017 I just hope we don't get dudded with mediocrity for this year

 

[Dragon Revival]

Apart from injuries and a new coach things seem to be looking up. The Dragons have had few good half-backs over the years. Evans, Smith, Morris Goldthorpe and Soward were good but there have been few others as we have
previously discussed over the past 50 years. If this signing comes off I guess that half-back will not be a problem for a while.

 

[giboz71]

If Hunt is slated to come in 2018, then the club has a year to build a team around him. This is actually a positive so we can make some decisions about players that need to be re-sgined/let go.

Duges is the next big question, but seems he's keen to stay. Plenty of competition in the centres, Mann, Milne, Aitken, Lafai, Herbert, Thompson. Will Nighty retire at the end of the year so someone like Garrick can get his chance? What about Widdop, Hutch and Field as Hunt's partner? Is Dufty our long term fullback?

Don't think any of these questions can be answered as yet. Hence we better use this year to find out. Our forwards are pretty much sorted for the time being, but we need the right combination (I repeat combination) in our backs to fix our horrible attack.

Don't do what we've done in the past where we have just thrown players Dugan, Aitken, Widdop, Lafai, Nighty, Benji, all good players individually, but as a combination was one of the worst attacking backlines in recent memory.

 

[BrissyRedV]

Don't think any of these questions can be answered as yet.

I don't think these questions can be truly answered until we know who the coach is and who he wants to keep. I hate the excuse he didn't have the team he wanted. Now is the time to find and appointed the new coach so he can have input into who is retained and let go and who is targeted.