St George Illawarra Dragons halfback Ben Hunt has revealed he has some regrets over his contract standoff with the membership.
The 33-year-old 312-game NRL veteran was within the headlines for all of the fallacious causes in 2023.
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The Dragons have been the NRL’s massive underachievers over the previous 5 years, lacking the ultimate each season, with 2023’s sixteenth place end the worst within the present horror run.
In reality, because the membership’s 2010 premiership, the Dragons have made the finals simply thrice (2011, 2015 and 2018).
Having joined the membership in 2018, it means Hunt has made the finals simply as soon as in his time on the membership.
And all of it got here to a head in 2023 when coach and shut buddy Anthony Griffin was fired, resulting in Hunt to name for a launch, simply eight months after signing a contract extension till the tip of the 2025 season.
Speaking to Nine News, Hunt admitted the strain acquired an excessive amount of.
“I probably made it known pretty loud last year that it was getting pretty frustrating,” Hunt mentioned.
“There’s regrets about parts of it. In a way, I’m happy that some things came to a head but it definitely could have been handled better, that’s for sure. It’s been a long couple of years and it sort of compounded into a few little things that sort of ticked it off at the end.
“If I could take the time back, I would do it differently.”
The Dragons captain sparked a firestorm when he formally requested the membership for a launch after former coach Anthony Griffin was fired final May.
While former premiership successful coach Shane Flanagan was named the membership’s new coach for 2024, it wasn’t sufficient to appease Hunt, who started angling for a launch forward of the second State of Origin conflict.
But the Dragons stood agency, refusing to permit their marquee participant go away regardless of his clear and publicly vocal displeasure on the membership.
Hunt had signed an extension solely eight months earlier than the contract saga started.
Hunt declared on the time that he needed to return to Queensland.
“I’d like to come home. That’s what we’d like to do. It’s for family reasons. There’s a whole lot more to it — other things — but that’s the main reason,” Hunt mentioned.
But nonetheless the Dragons stood agency and Hunt ultimately confirmed he’d keep on the membership for the 2024 season.
However, it didn’t persuade many as the idea was that he’d attempt to power an exit after the 2024 season as he chases a premiership.
Hunt has been saying all the appropriate issues forward of the 2024 season to date.
Speaking with Fox Sports News, Hunt mentioned he was happy with the route Flanagan was taking the staff.
“The conversations I’ve had with him (Flanagan), [2024] is going to be a team built on hard work and discipline and competing right to the final whistle,” Hunt mentioned.
“He believes over the past few years there have been a lot of guys who haven’t really fought for that extra inch and he wants to be a team who can grind teams out and really fight right to the death.
“We’ve got a lot of hard work to do to get to that point, but it’s exciting.”
One subject that will bubble away underneath the floor is that Flanagan has already advised Dragons followers to mood expectations forward of the brand new season, saying “our real focus will be 25-26”.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
