Ben Hunt has pointed to his resilience following the 2015 grand final as proof he can shrug off his State of Origin disappointment and launch an assault on the premiership for St George Illawarra.
Hunt has endured a tough representative period as anyone in the NRL, copping the brunt of criticism for Queensland’s series-deciding loss in Game II before being dropped to the bench for last week’s dead rubber.
But it’s not the first time the 28-year-old has been forced to deal with such adversity in his career.
After piloting Brisbane to their first grand final in almost a decade in 2015, he famously dropped the kick off in the first half of golden point before Johnathan Thurston booted North Queensland to victory.
The error, and how Hunt would rebound from it, became the talking point of the following summer but he still earned his first Queensland jersey last season and has been one of the buys of the years at the Dragons this season.
And now he’s ready to put what he learnt from that error into practice as the third-placed Dragons embark on a run to win their first title since 2010.
“I’ve played a lot of big footy now, and I think I have gotten over a pretty big grand final in the past and I’m feeling pretty good about it,” Hunt said on Wednesday.
“I knew that I had made a mistake (in Origin). I’ve made lots of them in rugby league over my career.
“It’s about how you move on from that. I’ve found different ways and developed ways to do that throughout my career. And I just need to move on.”
It’s for that reason Hunt maintains his confidence is still sky high headed into Saturday’s away trip to face the Cowboys, despite the admittedly “tough” fallout.
And his performances since that ill-fated grubber in Origin have backed that up.
Just five days after the ANZ Stadium loss he put in a similar kick for Euan Aitken, who dived onto it centimetres before the deal-ball line to kickstart a Dragons comeback against Parramatta.
He was impressive in Origin III, coming off the bench and into dummy-half with minimum fuss in defence while still producing some speed and creativity out of the ruck.
“I was feeling pretty confident that I still got picked to play Origin, I’m still feeling pretty good,” Hunt said.
“I know Mary (coach Paul McGregor) and the staff and the players here have a lot of confidence in me to play halfback and I’ve been playing in that position for a long time now.
“It’s not about Queensland, it’s about Dragons now.
“Obviously I want to play good at halfback but it’s more about focusing on the competition here. Winning a grand final is an ultimate goal and I want to be a big part of that.”
Forty Twenty
Guest
In 2005 Saints had 5 players in the series winning NSW team and didn't make the GF In 2008 Manly had one player in the series losing NSW team, Brett Stewart who was dropped to the bench for game 3 yet they won the GF 40 nil. Any future immortals from this Manly team? Best in position ? One Hall of Famer coming off the bench. According to the rep selectors Saints had the best roster in 2005.
Forty Twenty
Guest
I was thinking that Mary was in those mid 00's teams but I got it wrong and you are correct. In saying that those Saints teams had 5 or 6 Origin players like Cooper , Gasnier, Ryles, Barrett and Baily who were also playing for Australia. Clearly a stronger roster than the grand Finalists in 2005.
Kenw
Guest
When was Mary in one of the greatest teams never to win a Grand Final, 1999? The Dragons weren't even in the 8 until 2 weeks from finals, they came from 6th to get to the big day. The only time that whole year they were premiership favourites was Grand Final week. This myth of the legendary Saints sides of the late 90's & 00's that couldn't win a premiership seems to gaining momentum with each passing year. Future immortals from those sides? Future hall of famers from those sides? Geez, even players who would have been considered the best in their position at the time? (might claim Gasnier for a season or two on that last one, but Inglis might have a word to say about that). Dragons had solid teams in that era with a number of rep players but they didn't have any of the superstars of the day. Barrett was their best but clearly a level below the best halves of his day (does anyone argue that he sits alongside Johns, Fittler or Lockyer?)
Forty Twenty
Guest
Hunt has some bad memories from the biggest games of his career and he will be doing a good job to overcome this on GF day . James Graham doesn't have the same issue but after losing all of his 7 or 8 or something GF 's he would be doing well to ignore the monkey clinging to his back. Throw in the coach who was in one of the best teams not to win a title that I've seen and almost certainly the best team I've seen not to make a GF then some demons could be lurking about the place. It's starting to look like one of the experienced outfits will be holding up the trophy but it would be great to see a Warrior and Penny big dance. Too much is made of individual performances thru the season. The Warriors got spanked by a highly weakened Pennies team but a full strength Penny outfit got done by Manly at home the week before or so. I'd guess that every team has been done when they should have won at a canter.
Paul
Roar Guru
Hope he does have both his head and his game together. When he plays well, Hunt is still a quality halfback. The Dragons certainly need him performing to his best if we're going to be any chance at the end of the season.