Ben Hunt reflects on the darkest moments of his NRL career ahead of 350th game

Ben Hunt has opened up on the darkest moments of his NRL career, revealing how counselling helped him overcome social media abuse and death threats as he prepares to play his 350th game.

Ben Hunt has revealed how he overcame social-media abuse and death threats with regular counselling sessions that have steeled him to lead Brisbane’s premiership assault this season.

Hunt will chalk-up one of the greatest achievements of his career on Sunday when he plays his 350th NRL game in Brisbane’s clash against the Knights at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium.

Now 35, Hunt jokes he is lucky just to be alive to celebrate the milestone, recalling being picked up at the airport as a 13-year-old by legendary Broncos scout Cyril Connell, who “swerved all over the road” and “nearly hit kerbs” in his first visit to Red Hill to sign a Brisbane scholarship.

But for all the laughs, thrills, spills and high-points, perhaps Hunt’s greatest triumph is not the incredibly rare 350-game feat, but his ability to beat the keyboard warriors and haters whose savage attacks could have ended his NRL career.

Ben Hunt has opened up on how he overcame social media abuse and death threats to reach 350 NRL games. Picture: Getty Images

There were two seminal moments in Hunt’s journey that crystallised his private grief, triggered personal abuse, and forced him to seek professional help to give him context to the pain he was experiencing.

The first was the 2015 NRL grand final, when Hunt dropped the extra-time kick-off which led to Cowboys star Johnathan Thurston’s premiership-winning field goal, reducing the Broncos halfback to tears.

The second was the 2018 State of Origin series, when Hunt was dropped as Queensland’s starting halfback after two consecutive losses which saw the Blues clinch interstate supremacy.

In the wake of his Origin axing, Hunt was ripped apart on social media.

One troll told him to jump off a bridge.

Riven with anxiety, Hunt, raised in the tiny Central Queensland town of Dingo, where tough bush folk don’t whinge and roll the sleeves up, went against his natural instincts and sought out a psychologist.

It was the move that has played a critical role in his recovery and longevity - and why he cherishes becoming just the sixth player in NRL history to reach 350 games.

The moment Hunt dropped the ball during golden point in the 2015 grand final. Picture: NRL

“I’m extremely proud. It definitely hasn’t been a smooth ride,” Hunt said ahead of his magical milestone on Sunday.

“There’s been some challenging periods.

“It’s pretty crazy when you look at the list of players that have done it, being alongside champions of the game like Cam (Smith), ‘Locky’ (Darren Lockyer) and Cooper Cronk.

“I saw someone (a psychologist) on and off there for a while. I can’t remember the exact length of time, but there were times when I thought I was coming out the other side, then someone would say something, and I would find myself doubting myself again.”

The rise of the social-media beast, which makes sporting stars around the globe so accessible to the everyday fan, took a toll on Hunt. After seeking professional help, he was given breathing techniques to help him cope in darker, more vulnerable moments.

It is a tribute to Hunt’s resilience and toughness that, a decade after his blunder in the 2015 grand final, he is still thriving in the NRL, 16 years after his Broncos debut in 2009.

But the noise is never far away. The difference now is Hunt’s capacity to barricade the criticism and maintain his self-belief.

Hunt was dropped as the Maroons halfback after back-to-back losses in the 2018 Origin series. Picture: Getty Images

“No, it’s not easy to block out, mate,” he says of social-media attacks on NRL stars.

“The way the world’s gone, I guess, with social media and everything, it’s just ramped up even more in the last five or 10 years.

“There’s no hiding away from it unless you just completely block it out.

“But I’ve learned a hell of a lot from getting help. You can’t listen to the critics. The biggest one is you shouldn’t let other people affect how you feel.

“I’ve matured a bit. I can just control how I feel, who I want to listen to and really tune into the people you trust and just block out all the other noise.”

With the support of wife Bridget and their two kids, Hunt’s state of mind now is far removed from his fragility six years ago, when the grand final and Origin setbacks had a compounding effect.

“I was getting death threats,” Hunt told this masthead in 2019.

“I had people on social media telling me to kill myself and jump off a bridge.

“Inside, I knew they are just people who don’t overly care that much, they just take five seconds to put up a stupid message to bag you, but it was a combination of all those comments built in with some experts in the game saying I wasn’t up to the job at halfback.

“I decided I needed help.

“My wife could see I wasn’t the same at home so she advised that I branch out and do something different.

“I’m glad I did it. It was such a good session, it was bloody amazing and that helped bring me back to who I was before all the criticism.”

Hunt has credited his wife Bridget and kids for helping him get through the darkest moments of his career. Picture: Getty Images

Another tower of strength for Hunt has been Wayne Bennett, his former Broncos and Queensland coach.

When Hunt was an inconsolable wreck in the seconds after Brisbane’s grand-final loss to the Cowboys, Bennett walked over to his halfback and uttered the words that fortified him and still drive the playmaker to this day.

“I went to him and I said, ‘Ben, just get on with your bloody life’,” Bennett recalls.

“That was the key message.

“I will never accept if Ben gets blamed for us losing that grand final.

“It was devastating for all of us, but that moment when the ball was kicked to him and he dropped it, I never saw that as the reason we lost the grand final. I still don’t.

“That can happen. Everyone drops balls. We shouldn’t have even been in overtime.

“I’m really pleased for Ben, he should be very proud to get to 350.

“He has been great for Queensland and Australia and I just love his effort. He puts his body on the line but he also has a natural football brain.

“He has done really well to come back from that (the 2015 grand-final mistake), he has played some very good football since and stayed at the top.

“So he has been able to move on from it, rather than listen to all the doom-and-gloomers who want to find fault with what you do.

“Ben is a great clubman and a great trainer. He does everything right.”

Former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett consolled Ben Hunt after the 2015 grand final loss. Picture: AAP

Of Bennett’s support, Hunt said: “Wayne was huge for me. He really was. I obviously felt like it was all on my shoulders.

“I was the one to blame for it and he made me feel a bit more at peace that it wasn’t just my fault. He was amazing.

“The other one was Justin Hodges at the time. He was devastated but he came and really made me feel the love, I guess, and like it wasn’t all my fault as well.”

The beauty is Hunt still has time to conquer the title summit.

Adam Reynolds’ hamstring injury has thrust Hunt back into the No.7 jumper and with five-eighth Ezra Mam unlikely to return this season, Brisbane’s premiership run hinges on the Reynolds-Hunt alliance.

Victory against the Knights will officially seal a finals berth for the Broncos and Hunt is backing himself to deliver in the sudden-death arena.

If others doubt him, he couldn’t care less.

“I definitely feel like I can get the job done until Reyno’s back,” Hunt said.

“I’ve played halfback most of my career and that’s where I feel most at home anyway.

“I definitely feel we’ve still got the roster here to win a few more games and finish out this year and push into the finals.

“I know we’ve got the talent to win the comp. There’s unfinished business for me.”