Kangaroos No.1 jersey an open race

[Billythekid]

If you don't care about attacking prowess or defensive skills, and just want a fullback who runs the ball like a prop then you can have Hunt.

 

[Nightward]

Inglis?

Doesn't play at centre any more and has hardly been spectacular for the Storm this year at 5/8th. A Prince/Thurston combo would have frightening firepower and should be the go, so where's Inglis going to play? Hunt will be fullback, you've got to find room for Slater, and Folau deserves a slot in the wing if not at centre instead of Bell.

So where do you put Inglis, who really hasn't done much for a while? Bench, maybe, bring him out for the last half hour? Bowen already does that.

There's already too many in-form players you've got to squeeze in out of position, so barring an injury to either Thurston or Prince, Inglis may well find himself watching from the sideline.

Whoever's picking Bell for QLD needs to lay off the PCP. He'll be lucky to be playing NRL when Matai comes back.

That would have been Meninga and company last year.

It seemed to work well enough.

If you don't care about attacking prowess or defensive skills, and just want a fullback who runs the ball like a prop then you can have Hunt.

Hunt is rock-solid under the kick and defends the line like his life depends on it. He makes very few errors.

Admittedly it would be better if he didn't pick out the opposing 8 and 10 when kick-returning and sprint headlong into them, but I'd still take Hunt over any other fullback, for the Broncos, Queensland, and Australia.

 

[Mr Saab]

He's also done nothing to gain his spot back,Minichiello missed his spot due to injury and is yet to get it back despite playing quite well.

Mini has never been fit enough to string 5 games together. He wont play for oz again.
Hunt will be fullback come the May test

 

[mxlegend99]

Admittedly it would be better if he didn't pick out the opposing 8 and 10 when kick-returning and sprint headlong into them, but I'd still take Hunt over any other fullback, for the Broncos, Queensland, and Australia.

That's called bias.

Being unbiased here... i'd take Stewart, Slater, Bowen, Gidley, Patten, McKinnon & Burt... and a few others over Hunt. Fullbacks are meant to fing gaps, make line-breaks, score tries etc.

Running as hard and fast as they can at the opposition front row, isn't high on the priority list.

 

[Snoz]

Brett Stewart deserves to retain his spot as do the 17 who played so well against the Kiwis late last year. One of the better team performances I have seen by an Aust league side in awhile.

But on an individual level Stewart is the incumbant and is playing as well as Billy Slater is at the moment. He had a slowish start to the season but was recovering from a knee op he had in the off season and hadn't played in any of the trials.

 

[Nightward]

That's called bias.

Running as hard and fast as they can at the opposition front row, isn't high on the priority list.

Not exactly. He attacks well in general play, particularly down the left side of the field, and even pcking out the opposition forwards has a point; it's intended to give the rest of the Broncos time enough to get into an attacking line. In terms of game strategy, it's still a pretty shrewd (and evidently coached) move, one that the more rugged fullbacks have also begun to copy.

During a broken field where the attackers have already been run ragged (Origin, Tests) he can use more attacking plays, but the Broncos have built their campaigns around playing good, mistake-free footy and completing sets of six rather than chancing their shots at every opportunity.

 

[hineyrulz]

Slater should get the gig on form, but Stewart will probably hold on to the job. Hunt has done nothing so far this season to warrant a test jersey.

 

[mxlegend99]

Slater should get the gig on form, but Stewart will probably hold on to the job. Hunt has done nothing so far this season to warrant a test jersey.

He hasn't done anything to warrant a test jersey PERIOD. He only got his first jersey because Australia wanted to keep New Zealand from using him.

 

[badav]

He hasn't done anything to warrant a test jersey PERIOD. He only got his first jersey because Australia wanted to keep New Zealand from using him.

Hes killed it in every game hes played for Australia.

 

[andrew057]

Hes killed it in every game hes played for Australia.

Killed it? How many minutes did he actually play a fullback?

 

[mxlegend99]

Hes killed it in every game hes played for Australia.

You mean when he got knocked out?

 

[Yosh]

I dont get it... I hate the Broncos right but Hunt is a gun player... He runs the ball back harder then anyone, makes great metres off kick returns, his support play is just superb he gets really into those 2nd man plays. NEVER drops a bomb, hardly ever misses a tackle, cover defense is superb as well... I dont understand all this Hunt hate... Definately deserves it over Gidley, but I love him dont get the wrong idea, I just feel Hunt is still better!!!

 

[Ghoulies]

That's called bias.

Being unbiased here... i'd take Stewart, Slater, Bowen, Gidley, Patten, McKinnon & Burt... and a few others over Hunt. Fullbacks are meant to fing gaps, make line-breaks, score tries etc.

Running as hard and fast as they can at the opposition front row, isn't high on the priority list.

:roll:

It's perfectly understandable that you don't pay too much attention to Broncos games, but I do wish you'd stop dribbling about us when you clearly haven't put the required thought in.

Hunt won't make the highlights reel as often as several of the fullbacks you've mentioned, but he does a lot of the little things considerably better than most. He's probably the safest FB under the high ball, only Slater and Minichiello return the football with his urgency, he takes better options when running 2nd-man plays and he's effective in organising the defensive line from the back.

All of those advantages translate well into the representative arena. Whereas someone like Bowen, who relies heavily on exploiting 2nd rate defences with speed and footwork, struggles when confronted by quality sides who just won't slack off the way NRL teams typically do.

With all that said I'd still prefer Slater at #1, as at the moment he's doing everything Hunt is, and then some.

 

[willvillain]

He's probably the safest FB under the high ball

I'd say both Slater and Stewart are as safe under the high-ball.

Stewart hasn't dropped a bomb in about two years - even when he got knocked the f*ck out in the Grand Final I'm pretty sure he held onto the ball...

 

[Mr Saab]

Hunt is the safest fullback under the bomb in the NRL. The last bomb he dropped was vs the saints at WIN in 2006....and i watch all bronco games.
Sure, he doesnt run 100m to score tries like Slater or Stewart, but there is more to fullback play than that.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

You mean when he got knocked out?

Yeah and the one where he bagged a double and got man of the match. Remember that one?

 

[Garts]

Hunt is a very solid fullback, however so are others like Stewart and Slater who are also safe under the high ball and have exceptional positional play (I notice Stewart especially does, albeit I do pay more attention to him). Also hasnt Hunt been injured a bit since 2006?

The FB spot is out of those 3 now Mini has injury issues. All would not let us down.

 

[Frank_Grimes]

Brett Stewart deserves to retain his spot as do the 17 who played so well against the Kiwis late last year. One of the better team performances I have seen by an Aust league side in awhile.

I thought the Aussies were pretty ordinary, but the Kiwis were rubbish.

 

[Teela]

Hunt is the safest fullback under the bomb in the NRL. The last bomb he dropped was vs the saints at WIN in 2006....and i watch all bronco games.
Sure, he doesnt run 100m to score tries like Slater or Stewart, but there is more to fullback play than that.

Yep the only time I can remember him ropping the ball at home was in the warm up (last year I think) Everyone was laughing cause it's such a rare thing to see

 

[Billythekid]

I dont get it... I hate the Broncos right but Hunt is a gun player... He runs the ball back harder then anyone, makes great metres off kick returns, his support play is just superb he gets really into those 2nd man plays. NEVER drops a bomb, hardly ever misses a tackle, cover defense is superb as well... I dont understand all this Hunt hate... Definately deserves it over Gidley, but I love him dont get the wrong idea, I just feel Hunt is still better!!!

His cover defense is not awesome. That's probably my biggest problem, he gets beaten 1 on 1 easily. Your right he may not miss tackles when he gets his hand on the player but when a line break is made and his the last line of defense he gets beaten easy. If you want to see good cover defense watch Slater or Bowen.

His positioning on goal line defense is atrocious. His already cost the broncos a few times this year because when the kick goes through his nowhere to be seen. Players like Bowen, Slater and Mini are always at the right spot. It happened against the storm last week when i think it was Ryan Hoffman who scored. The ball went up came down got juggled around, and Hunt didn't get there until Hoffman was crossing the line. The top fullbacks never get caught out like that. I usually notice it more on grubbers. How many times have we seen Slater or Bowen or Mini perfectly read the grubber to come sprinting through and pick off grubbers early. This pretty much never happens with Hunt.

He runs the ball back harder than anyone, so what? I would far rather having Slater or Mini running it back, sure they might not run as hard but every time they get the ball theres a potential for a LB or something special. Plus it's not like Slater or Mini run it back slowly. To be honest I rated Hunt higher when he took on the line rather than steaming in like a forward.

Also support play, Slater absolutely kills him in this regard no doubt about it. Firstly because his much quicker off the mark and is more likely to make a break because of it. Also because he supports more often. Hunt rarely supports his forwards looking for offloads he generally just follows the play makers and supports them. You watch the Storm this week and see how many times Slater is backing up his forwards. Do the same with the Broncos and you will see the difference. I can't believe i even have to point this one out because it is so damn obvious.

As for being safe under the high ball. Yeah his hands are safe but seriously that's hardly a big thing any more. All the top fullbacks i.e Slater, Mini, Patten etc are safe as houses under the high ball. You can't use that as a distinguishing factor as there all pretty much the same standard.

I also can't stand his ball playing skills. When his in the attacking line all he ever does is catch pass, and in general he throws the pass way to early allowing the defense to slide way to easily.

Yeah i know bla bla bla i'm biased towards Slater. Thing is although i think Slater is by far the best at the moment there are other fullbacks i rate ahead of Hunt. Give me Mini, Patten, Kidley or Stewart any day.