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Dragons skipper Ben Hunt eyes NRL open market as he claims club ‘doesn’t seem overly keen to keep me’
Ben Hunt has sensationally claimed the St George Illawarra club he captains “doesn’t seem overly keen to keep me” as he prepares to hit the open market.
Michael Carayannis
@mcarayannis
3 min read
October 12, 2024 - 4:00PM
News Sport Network
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NRL: After a disappointing end to their season, the St George Illawarra Dragons may look to move on veteran Ben Hunt who has been linked to a move to the Gold Coast Titans.
Kangaroos veteran Ben Hunt will hit the open market come November 1 after the Dragons skipper sensationally claimed the club “doesn’t seem overly keen to keep me.”
Hunt’s future is
again in the headlines as he prepares to take part in Australia’s Pacific Championships campaign.
The 34-year-old has indicated he wants to play on beyond his current deal which expires at the end of 2025 but is of the belief that the Dragons aren’t rushing to make him an offer meaning he will test the market in just three weeks.
HUNT’S NRL FUTURE
Hunt has committed to see out his contract at the Dragons. But beyond that his future remains unclear.
“At this stage I’ll be there (next year),” Hunt said.
“Nothing has changed. I had to get away and freshen up and not think about footy for a while. Unless something extreme happens I’ll probably be there.”
Ben Hunt will hit the open market come November 1. Picture: Getty Images
The 334-gamer wants to play for at least two more seasons which will set him up to become the second-most capped player in the game’s history with Hunt on track to go beyond Cooper Cronk’s 372 game mark. Only Cameron Smith has played more.
But Hunt may be forced to look elsewhere after he claimed the Dragons were reluctant to put a new deal on the table.
“I definitely want to play beyond next year,” Hunt said.
“I’m still feeling good in myself and I feel like I can contribute.
“We’ve had that discussion earlier in the year and it went away. They don’t want to offer me anything so I’ll go to November 1 and see what happens.
“I haven’t shut the doors on anything. The Dragons said they were keen to extend me around April and then they said they’d wait until after Origin.
“Now they want to see how I’m playing next year. It’s all gone quiet and they don’t want to do anything. Doesn’t sound like they are overly keen to keep me.
“It may be in Queensland or somewhere else. I’ll just wait and see. “
St George Illawarra Dragons captain Ben Hunt.
END OF SEASON REVIEW
Hunt insists he has no issue with what was said to him during the
end of season post-mortem with coach Shane Flanagan and other coaching staff members.
However it was the public fall-out where elements of the meeting were leaked to the media which has stung Hunt.
“It was disappointing the way the season ended,” Hunt said.
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“We set ourselves up to play finals but we crumbled and I was disappointed in the back end of the year.
“A lot of the stuff that was in the media wasn’t said in my review. I don’t know where it came from but it must’ve been said somewhere.
“It was disappointing that a lot of the stuff from my review got out there. I was in a review with the coaches and then it’s the media within a couple of hours. I can’t control that I guess.
“I didn’t leave the review disappointed. I left thinking that they said things that I was thinking. My defence was the best and I fell away in the last month of the season.
“I played a couple of disappointing games and that’s what they said to me.
“I expected that to be said.”
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SIGNING GUTHO
The Dragons have bought some much-needed experience in the likes of Valentine Holmes and Damien Cook to help ease the leadership burden on Hunt.
They are also in the mix to sign Clint Gutherson who was
granted permission to talk with rival teams for 2026. Hunt said the Dragons should pounce.
“He would be an asset,” Hunt said.
“He is a great competitor. There’s talk of moving him to centre or five-eighth. I think we could sign him to play six.
“He is a real organiser and an experienced guy who could slot in there.”
