No offence but you do know that Hunt was rested for that game, which Mal Meninga and Laurie Daley both confirmed. Ben Hunt is the incumbent Hooker for Australia along with Grant (Bench)
Sorry i should have put a comma/full stop and the incumbent comment is my own comment.
And with Ben hunt returning after being rested, selector Daley has confirmed to the
Big Sports Breakfast that Cherry-Evans will be dropped from the 17-man line-up for the pivotal clash against New Zealand.
This means Maroons hooker Harry Grant will take Cherry-Evans' spot on the bench as the specialist hooker.
The Kangaroos coach appears set to drop Daly Cherry-Evans for the vital semi-final clash. Find out more here.
au.sports.yahoo.com
There are a few other articles as well with Mal saying basically the same thing
No dramas mate, thanks for clarifying about the incumbent comment noting that it was your own description and not something Meninga or Daily specifically said in relation to Hunt.
If we take a step back however, the comments being thrown around that Hunt is the 'starting Australian hooker' so should be our Hooker with Sullivan starting half are all completely flawed for a variety of reasons such as:
1) The Australian Rugby League Squad travelling for a world cup, would pick players on the basis of not only how well they play their position at club level (half back in Hunt's case), but also how well they can cover other positions if needed in the event of injury. This means Hunt playing hooker for Australia is not a ringing endorsement of he being a great dummy half, he certainly isn't in the top two dummy halves in the NRL now is he?
2) The same can be said for Hunt playing Hooker for QLD as I've said above in the case of Australia.
3) Hunt had a tremendous season playing halfback for us last season. He has said publicly many times his preferred position is half back and we have a coach who has played a big part in Hunt's ascension to a top line player. It is therefore fair to assume that both Ben and Hook would have a fairer idea of his best position than some of your average Joe blows on the street.
4) I could be wrong but I don't recall Sullivan even making it through a reserve grade season without sustaining injury as yet? Hunt is the known quantity at half back having been our best player and almost winning the dally m last year. Sullivan is still a rookie, very much an unknown quantity and in my humble opinion didn't show he was up to it when not being able to get us over the line against a reserve grade quality Broncos outfit last season whilst playing his preferred position. This further shows Sullivan is not exactly banging the door down to replace Hunt at halfback. When people say Sullivan could use more time in reggies/first grade bench before replacing Hunt they're 100% correct.
Overall I can't say I'm surprised some people on here would advocate for a positional change in one of the only spots of the 17 we have filled properly, seemingly based entirely on YouTube videos of an under 16s/under 18s competition. The reason this doesn't surprise me is some of the tripe posted on here from different members isn't exactly a glowing endorsement of their intelligence.
By the way
@AyiosYiorgos I don't expect you to reply to this but have quoted your post due to it being on topic with my recent posts.