He had earned comparisons with Brisbane great Allan Langer.
But by fulltime of the NRL grand final on Sunday, devastated Broncos No.7 Ben Hunt trudged off ANZ Stadium with a very different reputation to shake.
Hunt looked to have plenty in common with title-winning ex-captain Langer initially, after appearing to help steer Brisbane to their seventh premiership in the season decider against North Queensland.
However, someone forget to tell North Queensland.
Remarkably, the Cowboys pivot Michael Morgan’s inside ball set up winger Kyle Feldt’s try after the fulltime siren to lock up the scores at 16-16.
North Queensland hearts were broken when Johnathan Thurston hit the post with the sideline conversion attempt.
But it was Hunt who would be left in tears.
From the golden point kickoff, Hunt inexplicably knocked on and immediately dropped his head.
He then began sobbing.
But it was nothing compared to the pain inflicted by Thurston’s stunning 82rd-minute match-winning field goal moments later.
In just his second season as starting halfback, Hunt had made great strides to earn comparisons with little champion Langer.
However, if he does reach Langer’s status, he will have to learn from perhaps league’s harshest lesson.
It could have been so different for the poor No.7.
Brisbane five-eighth Anthony Milford shone on Sunday night by his side.
His silky touch in the No.6 jersey looked to have proved the difference before the Cowboys brought the 82,758 crowd to their feet after the fulltime siren.
Ex-Canberra fullback Milford was considered a bust at five-eighth for Brisbane at the start of the season, with former title-winning coach Phil Gould leading the criticism.
Gould reckoned Milford was “not mature enough” to hold the key role for Brisbane after a shattering 36-6 season-opening loss to South Sydney.
Well, it seems Milford has finally come of age.
The devastating 30-point loss in March must seem an eternity away for the quietly spoken Milford after finding his voice under coach Wayne Bennett’s watch.
Milford and Hunt had earned comparisons with Brisbane’s last great halves pairing of Langer and Kevin Walters.
But Milford looks set to make a name for himself, judging by the way he stood up on the biggest day of his career, albeit in just his third season.
The 21-year-old might be a man of few words but he made a big statement at ANZ Stadium.
Milford was at his predictably sparkling best in attack, latching onto a clever Adam Blair offload to help winger Corey Oates complete a remarkable 90m effort and score in just the seventh minute.
But it was his defensive spark that helped Brisbane stay in the hunt for their first title since 2006, the club’s longest premiership drought.
Not once but twice Milford pulled off a telling one-on-one strip to defy a surging Cowboys.
In the end, he finished with 199 metres and two line breaks in a stunning performance only soured by North Queensland’s late heroics – and, unfortunately, Hunt’s gutwrenching gaffe.
josh
Guest
You obviously don't know League. THurston is the GOAT of coin tossing.
The Barry
Roar Guru
It's all subjective but Thurston made a simple mistake that led directly to a try. He helped bomb the Linnett try by passing to the wrong man and throwing the ball so ridiculously hard that Linnett didn't get a chance to get his hands to it. He overplayed his hand in the last 15 mins, touching the ball 3-4 times each set but not really setting anything up - Gallen gets caned for going the same thing and he's not a playmaker. He got creamed by Blair twice just jogging up to the line at 45 degrees with nothing doing. It was a long way from being a man of the match performance.
Jimmmy
Guest
Correct MB that would be the first time all year.now that would have been inconsistency.
pjm
Roar Rookie
Doesn't matter, it was an instruction by Bennett so blame him.
Kowalski
Guest
When they finally got that drop goal off Hunt's grubber I thought you beauty we can close it out properly now. But no we had to drop the ball again. There were some uncharacterisitic error's and penalties from my bronco's. GF pressure. Even on the cowboys last play I thought it was over. We had em covered. But they pulled it outta the bag. Top job.
Maroon Blood
Guest
Not blaming Reed at all, fully understandable that he came in-field to assist Milford as Morgan is such a strong ball runner.............Oates coming in however left a giant hole and the rest is history. Have always said that the wing is one of the most difficult positions defensively so not bagging young Oates at all, him not being a natural winger anyway.........just a HUGE one. Great try by the way Corey!
Alex L
Roar Rookie
Hard to blame Reed for thinking Morgan was going to bust through, watching the replay Morgan only went to ground because Reed got his legs -- Milford was jumper grabbing and I think Morgan would've busted the tackle if it was one on one.
Maroon Blood
Guest
Have you seen anyone sin binned or off the field for an illegal tackle this season? Doing so to Hunt would have been pretty IN-consistent.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Hunt should have been sin binned and off the field, where is the consistency of the refereeing in the NRL? And then maybe he wouldn't have made these mistakes but he would have been blamed for the Broncos loss.
Maroon Blood
Guest
Ironic that the main feature of the Broncos defence all year, the faith in the bloke beside you, let them down when they were 5 seconds away from a Premiership. Then again, in the game in Townsville, Morgan ran straight through Milford for both his tries and in the Roosters semi, Reed was caught out by having to help out Milford on the inside against RTS so Reed coming in last night wasn't a precedent.
Emcie
Roar Guru
I think you can blame reed for that one, he stopped and went back in to cover Morgan (who'd already been wrapped up) which completely halted their sliding defence and isolated oats. He did the same thing to let in two tries against the roosters last week. Hopefully reed will learn to have a bit more faith in Milford over the off season.
Maroon Blood
Guest
Hunt's error is the big talking point but noone says anything about Oates needlessly coming off his wing instead of staying on Feldt. Cracking game where the old adage that neither team deserved to lose certainly applies.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Yeah, I can't believe they started playing for time before the last ten
Emcie
Roar Guru
Yeah, it's not like they struggled to contain the back three up to that point. Surely even running on fifth would have been a better option
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
I'm sure it was Hunt!!! I know McCullough do it once, understand why they were doing it, also I suppose I wasn't a neutral as such, I was hoping for the underdogs to win & kicking out was frustrating.
Doc79
Roar Rookie
I said at the time that the broncs were trying to close out the game far too early and that it goes against the way they'd played all year. Those kicks for touch, some were from the cows 40. I would've thought putting up an attacking kick would have really put the pressure back on the cows to get back and work it off their line again.
Kowalski
Guest
Both mate. Broncos tried to defend that total wayyyy too early. Frustrated the living hell out of me because I knew it would come back to haunt them.
Jimmmy
Guest
I agree punter. The Broncs played positive footy all season and yet changed their game plan in the last 15 minutes of a grand final. Mind you If they had won , everyone would say Bennett was a genius.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Wasn't it McCullough kicking the ball out? Or was I going off at the wrong player?
Emcie
Roar Guru
Haha, didn't realise that winning the toss came into consideration!! I thought Milf played better then Thurston for the majority of the game, but Thurston stood up when it mattered and that's what counts