The future of Dragons captain Ben Hunt has again come under question following staggering new comments from the star halfback.
Hunt endured a difficult season with the Dragons and requested a release from the remaining two years of his contract so he could return to Queensland.
The Dragons denied Hunt’s request and it was hoped that incoming coach Shane Flanagan could convince him to stay with the NRL club, however, Hunt has declared that the Red V is “honestly, not my first choice”.
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The 33-year-old seemingly ruled out a move to the Gold Coast Titans following their recent re-signings of star forwards Tino Fa’asuamaleaui and David Fifita on big money, long-term deals.
“I’ve kind of not thought about it, but any team (in Queensland) is definitely an option,” Hunt admitted on Triple M.
“Whether the Titans can fit you in is another thing. The Titans have thrown a bit of money around lately, so I don’t know whether that can even happen.”
In an extraordinary elevation of the contract drama, Hunt said retiring from rugby league has “definitely” come to mind amid the Dragons’ desire to hold on to him.
He still concedes he “would prefer to come back home” to Queensland.
But Hunt has committed himself to the Dragons for next season and captaining the side, if that is their wish.
“It (retirement) definitely pops into your head,” he said.
“It’s an option considering I’m at the back end of my career, it’s not far away, but once you retire you are done and I’m not ready to retire yet.
“I have some good footy left in me, so that’s not an option.
“At this stage, I’m a Dragon and going into pre-season that’s all I will think about.
“If the club thinks that someone else can do a better job than me (captaincy), I understand and accept that but as long as the club wants me there I’ll be happy to do it.”
Hunt, who joined St George Illawarra in 2018 after 187 games – including the 2015 grand final – with the Broncos, said he has held discussions with Flanagan with the hope that things can turn around for the struggling Dragons.
“I definitely think he will change a lot of things for sure,” Hunt said.
“I hope there is some success, there has to be a lot of change before there is.
“There’s definitely going to be some pain for sure, there’ll be some hard lessons and Flanno is ready to dish out some hard lessons to the guys. I’m hopeful there are some good times to come.
“I will be a Dragon in 2024. Honestly, it’s not my first choice, I would prefer to come back home but that’s where we are at.
“I’ve had some good honest conversations with Flanno. His stance was that he isn’t coming in as a coach just to win games, he said I want you here, you are the captain and I want you to lead it and I don’t want to let you go so as a coach, I totally understand that. Why would you want to let players go who you think can help your side?”
Rugby league great Braith Anasta questioned the commitment of Hunt moving forward.
“Am I out of line by saying it’s not convincing?” Anasta said on NRL 360.
“From that interview right there, you don’t want to be going through the whole offseason and the start of the year again when you are not sure if your captain wants to be there.
“You’ve got to go forward, you’ve got to let go of the dead wood. Flanagan’s got an opportunity to set the club up and put them on the right path and he cannot afford to have his star player maybe not wanting to be there.
“You are either in or you’re out.”
Former Dragons player and rugby league legend Gorden Tallis agreed.
“A young kid walking into the dressing room, you need to know that everybody is on the same page. It is as simple as that,” Tallis said.
“If I walked into the dressing room and didn’t know whether my star player or captain was going to play and he’s shopping himself around, I don’t know how I’d feel.”
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