The veteran was hoping to impress Billy Slater before QLD’s Game 3 side is named.
Ben Hunt’s hopes of impressing Queensland coach Billy Slater before the Maroons’ Game 3 squad is announced have been dealt a crushing blow, with the veteran failing to prove his fitness for the Broncos’ round 17 game against the Warriors. Hunt has been sidelined since round 10 with a hamstring injury, but was reportedly in line to make his NRL comeback in Saturday’s crunch home clash.
The Courier Mail reported that Hunt would undergo a series of fitness tests on his troublesome hamstring and was a chance of being named in coach Michael Maguire’s 22-man squad on Tuesday if he came through them unscathed. But Maguire has decided not take any risks and left him out the squad after indicating the 35-year-old would only play if fully fit.
“’Hunty’ is doing well,” Maguire told The Courier Mail. “We have just got to make sure the old boy is 100 per cent ready to go.” The Broncos jumped to fifth on the ladder after their impressive come-from-behind win against Cronulla in round 16, and will come up against a fourth-placed Warriors side desperate to atone for their shock loss to a depleted Penrith.
Maguire was hoping that Hunt’s addition would give him a first taste of what many believe to be Brisbane’s first-choice spine. Fullback Reece Walsh is starting to hit form after returning from injury, while Ezra Mam has slotted back into the halves alongside Adam Reynolds after serving his nine-game ban. Hunt would complete the star-studded quartet by shifting to hooker.
It’s a role the veteran has performed well at rep level for the Maroons and Kangaroos, and would give Brisbane another creative outlet in attack and much needed big-game experience. Billy Walters and Cory Paix have battled for the No.9 jersey at Brisbane this season but one of them will almost certainly drop out when Hunt returns.
Ben Hunt denied chance to press his Origin claims
Maguire was optimistic that Hunt would be fit enough to face the Warriors on Saturday, but has chosen to hold off his return most likely until the following Friday’s game against the ladder-leading Bulldogs. And with Slater set to name his Maroons squad for the Origin decider after this weekend’s games, Hunt’s chances of earning a Queensland recall look slim.
Hunt has been Slater’s preferred No.9 in previous Origin series, working in tandem with Harry Grant in a dual-hooker role for Queensland. In fact, the Maroons’ Game 2 victory in Perth was the first time in five games that they’d won with the Storm superstar starting at hooker.
Grant was immense for the Maroons in Game 2 with a whopping 55 tackles and a try assist in Perth, where he showed that Slater might not need another hooker after playing the full 80 minutes. Kurt Mann also impressed in his 36-minute stint that included a try assist, 19 tackles and three tackle breaks from his 35 running metres.
Mann injected plenty of energy off the bench for Queensland but would seem the man most likely to make way if Hunt were to earn an unlikely Origin recall. And with the series on the line in enemy territory and Hunt’s experience on the biggest stage working in his favour, the veteran could still be an outside shot.
