Ben Hunt signs with Dragons, exits Broncos on mega-deal: Five burning questions from blockbuster move
- 2 hours ago
- Tim Elbra@hdelbs
- Source: FOX SPORTS
BEN Hunt has just scored
one of the richest contracts in NRL history - with major repercussions.
His switch from the Brisbane Broncos to the St George Illawarra Dragons is reportedly for $6 million over five seasons, with a one-year option.
The spin-off effects are extensive - so we’ve tackled five burning questions on what the mega-deal means for Hunt, the Broncos, the Dragons and other big-name players.
WHAT DOES THIS CONTRACT MEAN FOR HUNT?
The obvious one: Hunt is now a wealthy man, with a secured future.
His new contract puts him alongside the NRL’s biggest earners and names - the likes of Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith, Jarryd Hayne, Billy Slater, Daly Cherry-Evans, Sam Burgess and Greg Inglis. It is not unkind, merely factual, to say that his CV is light-on compared to those superstars, so the challenge is now there to produce $1 million per-season form.
Hunt has already represented Australia but not Queensland (he was banned in 2016 after the Emerging Maroons camp incident). The next steps on the way to superstardom are claiming those rep jerseys as a regular starting player, and also trying to nail a maiden premiership.
The last point may prove his most difficult challenge. By making this switch, Hunt is trading one of the NRL’s best teams for one of its worst, currently far from a title contender. He has been earmarked by the Dragons as the player around whom they can rebuild and he will bear the immense pressure of that tag - at one of rugby league’s most famous and demanding clubs, with an extremely restless fanbase.
The impact on Hunt’s representative claims will be interesting, as players generally suffer a downturn in selections fortunes when they play in struggling teams. The onus on Hunt - whose fellow fringe players include Michael Morgan, Anthony Milford, Daly Cherry-Evans and Ash Taylor - will be to produce an absolutely outstanding 2017 season, given it is the last year Thurston will play rep footy, while Cooper Cronk is 33.
Next season, he’ll potentially get a Test-standard halves partner in Gareth Widdop (dependent on the off-contract five-eighth re-signing) but less-than-outstanding cattle elsewhere, barring Tyson Frizell and Josh Dugan. How he will fare behind a weaker forward pack will be interesting, while his ability to act as a recruitment drawcard is another of his new challenges.
Also, the coach. Paul McGregor is under enormous pressure to hold his job and it would be no surprise if Hunt arrived to play under a different Dragons coach than the one he just signed for.
Ben Hunt at Broncos training.Source: News Corp Australia
WILL THIS WRECK THE BRONCOS’ SEASON?
Can Hunt actually produce a bumper 2017 in the crucial No.7 jersey, with one foot out the door? The temptation is always to think ‘no’ but recent examples have proven otherwise.
Burgess famously announced that he was headed to rugby union before the 2014 season, only to dominate for the Rabbitohs and produce the most inspirational grand final-winning performance of his generation. Wandering star James Maloney infamously announced in late 2011 that he was leaving the Warriors for the Roosters, 460 days before he would pull on a Tri-colours jersey - yet was still a strong performer for New Zealand, albeit in a poor 2012 season.
While Hunt had a slow start to last season, coming off his grand final nightmare, there is no reason he can't star for the Broncos this season if he takes the same pragmatic and professional approach. It will be interesting to see if other factors, such as James Roberts’ latest ongoing scandal, exacerbate any tensions around Hunt’s defection and drag the Broncos down.
One thing that is no longer a factor is the infamous ‘Round 13 rule’, which used to let clubs work away on defecting players in an attempt to coerce them to renege on a signed rival deal. That rule was scrapped and replaced with a 10-day cooling-off period after Cherry-Evans backflipped on the Titans to stay at Manly, so the Hunt deal will not become a similar circus.
The positive to come from Hunt’s early decision is that the Broncos can now move on the remainder of their off-contract talent - of which there was plenty. Brisbane entered this season with the immense task of juggling 14 regular NRL players, worth about $6 million.
The names included Anthony Milford, Darius Boyd, Adam Blair, Josh McGuire, Alex Glenn, Ben Hunt, Andrew McCullough and Corey Oates. Not having to pay Hunt the best part of $1 million means they can make Milford priority No.1, while also locking up the rest of their spine in Boyd and McCullough, plus Test and Origin prop Josh McGuire.
The lingering issue here, and not just for the Broncos, is that the NRL has not decided what the $7 million salary cap of 2017 will rise to for 2018, making contract negotiations difficult.
After all this, of course, the Broncos still have the greatest coach in history to hold everything together. If anyone can handle the tumult, it’s seven-time premiership winner Wayne Bennett.
Ben Hunt (L) and coach Wayne Bennett.Source: News Corp Australia
WHAT DOES IT MEANS FOR OTHER BRONCOS STARS?
The biggest winner of Hunt moving on, from a dollars perspective, is Milford.
He was the playmaker that Brisbane most wanted to keep, knowing they would struggle to hold both he and Hunt. The former Raiders ace is now in a position to earn a genuine marquee deal - likely beyond that of Hunt, at perhaps $1.5 million per season should his brilliance hold firm in 2017. He is also has the chance to make the Broncos, the NRL’s biggest club, ‘his’ team.
Further, Milford will be making a big push for his maiden Queensland and Australian rep selections this season and if he outdoes Hunt in that area, by staying at Brisbane he will have the more reliable base from which to push those claims in the post-Thurston era.
Young utility Kodi Nikorima is one to watch this season. The New Zealand Test player is now very much on audition for a permanent spot in the Broncos halves. Still just 22, he’s a fine talent who is contracted through 2018 and could convince the Broncos not to splash out on another established playmaker should he shine in his 2017 opportunities.
One man who could play a role there is Benji Marshall, whose shock signing by the Broncos is looking more valuable by the day. His mentoring of Milford and Nikorima could prove invaluable, especially if any potential action against the troubled Roberts opens the door for the veteran to start.
There remains some question marks over that - Marshall is being touted to play centre, which his vastly-improved yet still mediocre defence may not handle.
Another left-field option (or perhaps it’s not) would be to move Boyd to five-eighth, something Bennett has long pondered. Boyd has shown excellent third-playmaker skills over many seasons as a fullback and at age 29, could have a crack at the Darren Lockyer-like move. It may ultimately depend on whether Bennett is happy with alternative halves options.
The next spin-off from that is getting another fullback. The Broncos signed David Mead, who was excellent for the Titans at No.1, on a bargain-basement one-season deal for 2017 and he could stick around if his form is strong.
Jordan Kahu is another wholly legitimate option, having just played fullback for New Zealand in the Four Nations final, scoring the Kiwis’ only two tries in a loss against Australia.
WHICH REPLACEMENT HALVES COULD THE BRONCOS CHASE?
Inevitably, names are already being thrown up and they have a ‘big brother picking on little brother’ theme.
Young Titans stars Ash Taylor and Kane Elgey were immediately thrown into speculations, though both are contracted until the end of 2018. That may not dissuade the Broncos yet would leave them with a hole next season.
Other off-contract NRL halves/utilities include Josh Reynolds, Jack Bird, Shaun Johnson, Kieran Foran, Jeff Robson, Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses. It isn’t known if any of those options appeal to the Broncos, though Moses appears to be coming into his own as a playmaker and the Tigers are currently trying to work out how to keep him, Brooks, James Tedesco and Aaron Woods on the books, with all off-contract.
As mentioned, Nikorima and Boyd are in-house possibilities to fill a halves position. Should it be Boyd, which is a big if given he’s the current Queensland and Australian fullback, that instead brings the Broncos into the market for a No.1.
Off-contract fullbacks/utilities include Boyd himself (he’s going nowhere), Tedesco, Bird, Will Hopoate, Ben Barba (!), Valentine Holmes, William Zillman, Billy Slater, Tui Lolohea, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Alex Johnston and Josh Dugan.
End of Pt 1
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