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Opinion
Hi Ben, a lifelong Dragons fan here, and guess what? I’m sick and tired, too.
I was excited when Paul McGregor courted you on a jet ski. Cheered from the Kogarah stands when you scored in your first game for the Red V against the Broncos.
I winced when you dropped the ball against the Warriors in Magic Round (2019) in front of your loyal Queensland fans. I defended you when the armchair critics and experts called you overrated and overpaid. I even smiled when you raced away to seal the 2022 Origin series.
Now, I’m sick and tired that the club captain of the team I love, measured on his five-and-a-half years at St George Illawarra, has underperformed, and now has the audacity to ask for an immediate release from the comfort of Sanctuary Cove, hiding behind the protection of Queensland Origin camp.
I feel like a mug for advocating for you for over half a decade. So, I want to analyse your time in the big Red V. It will help me sleep at night.
Ben, unlike the experts and 360 panelists, I remember your lean years at St George Illawarra, so let’s take a trip down memory lane.
2018 started with a bang. Gareth Widdop and yourself formed a halves pairing that had the army daring to dream. Jack De Belin, Tyson Frizell, Tariq Sims, and Paul Vaughan would move things forward, Matt Dufty, Euan Aitken, and Jason Nightingale could finish things off, and Reece Robson, Zac Lomax, and Luciano Leilua were names destined to be Dragons stars.
The Dragons were flying, leading the competition into Round 17. Widdop was sitting second in the Dally M count with 17 votes – you were not in the top 10. Compared with other halfbacks in 2018, you ranked fifth for linebreak assists, sixth for line engagements, forth for try assists, and third for kick metres per game.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
When taking the line on, your nine linebreaks (third) and seven tries (third) had fans content but perhaps not confident you were worth the money.
I was at Stadium Australia on a cold Saturday night when Parramatta thumped you 40-4. That was the night the Dragons’ hopes for 2018 went pop with Widdop’s shoulder.
I was at Kogarah the following week when you failed to trouble the scorers – the Dragons fell 38-0 to the Bulldogs. Our fears were confirmed: no Widdop, no chance.
The experts weren’t calling you our best player back then. Michael Ennis noted that “When he gets rattled, he tends to withdraw, and (in) that game on the weekend (against Parramatta), I saw him withdraw.”
Prophetic from Ennis.
He wasn’t the only one critical of you. Mark Geyer said, “Ben Hunt simply can’t be on a million dollars a year and have no runs for no metres.”
2019 things soured at St George Illawarra. De Belin was out, Corey Norman was in, Widdop’s shoulder went again in Round 3, and it was your job to step up on $1.2 million a season, the richest deal in Dragons history.
You did well compared to other halfbacks when you did things your way with nine linebreaks (third) and eight tries (third). But you kept saying you wanted to be a halfback. Halfbacks create and make those around them better players. Name a player who has improved playing outside you, Ben.
In 2019 you had seven linebreak assists (12th), engaged the line 111 times (eighth), and had 12 try assists (10th). Your halves partner Norman had more linebreak assists (14) and try assists (14), and he played two fewer games (19).
Andrew Johns was critical of your 2019 form, saying, “I don’t know if Ben Hunt’s an out-and-out halfback, especially on what they’re paying for him. That sort of money is for superstar quality.”
The numbers support Joey’s comments, “I just don’t think week in week out under pressure he’s that elite halfback.” Still, the Dragons paid you $1.2 million a season.
I still remember the lean years, Ben, even if the experts choose not to.
2020 was unique, and you only played five games in the 7, for five losses, in a shortened season.
McGregor finally fell on his sword after switching you to hooker. That was after four losses in your first four games at halfback, where you managed one try assist, and two line break assists.
Your old Broncos under 20s coach Anthony Griffin was appointed head coach for 2021. With him, he brought along some of your old 20s and Broncos mates Josh McGuire and Andrew McCullough. Some signings they were.
Dragons coach Anthony Griffin looks on after losing the round 11 clash with the Cowboys. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
I digress.
2021 came around, and the team was set up for you, Ben. You had your favourite coach, your best mate passing you the ball from dummy half, and your halves partner was an old Broncos teammate in Norman. You lead the boys out 15 times, and Hook puts the 7 on your back in all 15 games you play.
It’s time to step up and lead the Dragons to the finals for the first time since 2018.
The Dragons managed to beat three top-eight teams in 2021. Adam Clune was the halfback in two of those wins. You helped bully a Tom Trbojevic-less and winless Manly in Round 3. Saints finish in 11th with eight wins and 16 losses.
Yes, you had injuries, BBQ-gate (which you didn’t attend), and some failed signings in Kaide Ellis, Billy Burns, and Gerard Beale (more of Hook’s boys). They weren’t your fault, Ben. But can you see how Dragons fans were becoming sick and tired of how things were going? You weren’t providing a return on investment on your contract, which the club continued to honour, and the coach you stood so firmly by was sucking the life out of the Red V.
No finals appearances since 2018 and no Dally M top-10 finishes for you since arriving at St George Illawarra. Our young guns were not developing the way they should have been, players were jumping ship in search of success (Frizell, Cameron McInnes, Jason Saab and Jacob Host), and a squad that went within an Adam Reynolds field goal of a preliminary Final in 2018 was now fractured and breaking club records for most consecutive losses (eight).
Paul Gallen put it best on Sunday, saying, “He said he’s fed up with what’s happened at the club in years gone by and that they haven’t gone well. But he’s been paid a hell of a lot of money to be at that club and has never taken them to a semi-final. Now that’s not his fault, it’s a club game, a team sport, but he also hasn’t attracted a lot of talent there, either.”
In other words, you were a key stakeholder in creating the mess, Ben. And other than your contract year, your performances didn’t come close to justifying your price tag.
Ben Hunt speaks to his team during the Charity Shield thumping in Mudgee. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
One category that you did consistently rank among the top halfbacks during your time at St George Illawarra was for missed tackles. Compared to NRL halfbacks, you were first for missed tackles in 2018 (122), second in 2019 (92), third in 2021 (59), first in 2022 (115), and third through 2023 (42). The board wasn’t missing those tackles, Ben.
Back to 2022, and your five-year contract is coming to an end.
It’s finally time the Dragons could cut their ties, regain control of their salary cap, and blood the next generation (Tyrell Sloan, Jayden Sullivan, Junior Amone, and the Feagai brothers) so they “have their chance to make their own mark and set the club up for the future.” Your words, not mine.
Instead, your mate Hook doubles down on his Moneyball approach and brings in Aaron Woods, George Burgess, Tautau Moga, and Moses Mbye. Sloan, Sullivan, and Jaydn Su’a look for early releases, unhappy with the direction Hook was taking the club. Thankfully, the club denied those requests.
But something strange happened in 2022, Ben – you started playing to your price tag. Was it a dead cat bounce in a contract season, or were you playing for your mate the coach? No one else was.
Compared to halfbacks, your 17 line break assists (fourth), 199 line engagements (first), six tries (thirrd), 17 try assists (eighth), 425 kick metres per game (third), and six 40/20s (first) had experts forgetting about your lean years and declaring you the Dragons’ only good player.
You polled third (32 points) in the Dally M count, cracking the top 10 for the first time since arriving at the Dragons. It was a profitable year for you with a contract extension, yet another failed campaign for the club.
Since arriving at St George Illawarra, the Dragons finished seventh, 15th, 12th, 11th, and 10th and are now in a three-way battle for the wooden spoon in 2023.
After Widdop left, you have only managed seven wins against top-eight teams in four-and-a-half seasons (2019-2023) when wearing the 7 jersey. Seven wins.
You re-signed at the end of 2022, re-committing to the club that made you a rich man. You had to have known Hook’s days were numbered. Yes, the Dragons’ management of that situation was diabolical, but let’s not be hypocrites, Ben. Your performances over the span of your rich five-year contract were hardly world-class, and the writing was on the wall for Hook. So, why re-sign?
Last week, the Dragons signed their second premiership-winning coach in joint-venture history. Finally, things looked like they were on the up. Shane Flanagan makes a few bold statements regarding his vision for the club with you as its marquee man and for the first time in a long time, someone at the top looked to end the speculation surrounding you and your jersey number.
Shane Flanagan. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Hours later, hiding from your luxury accommodation at Sanctuary Cove, it’s leaked and confirmed that you want out.
No teammates to face up to. No fans on the weekend. No Dragons press conferences.
You have the keys to St George Illawarra, one of the most famous clubs in the country, and other than one good year, you have made a habit of implying restlessness and apprehension towards the club. With the benefit of hindsight, there has never been cohesion from the Hunt party.
It’s now confirmed that you want to walk out on the club that is shortening to win their first wooden spoon since 1938. What a cowardly act less than 12 months on from signing a lucrative contract extension.
I do hope St George Illawarra allows you to walk, but only at the end of 2023. You owe the club and its fans 10 or so more weeks of contract year quality. At the very least, the club deserves to protect itself from allowing you to turn up and perform for a rival club at a bargain rate after bleeding approximately $7 million into the Hunt estate over six seasons.
If you do leave immediately, your ‘legacy’ will be rewritten.
No longer will you be the guy who handed Johnathan Thurston and the Cowboys their 2015 premiership.
You will be known as a captain who steered this once proud ship into the depths of the NRL and jumped off.
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