NRL 2021: Ben Hunt played with broken arm for 20 minutes, injury news
He’s one of the NRL’s most divisive players, but after playing through this injury there is no doubting Ben Hunt is one of the toughest.
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There was a time not so long ago when Ben Hunt was one of the most maligned players in the NRL.
But Anthony Griffin has spoken of his immense pride in “the tough little bugger” after revealing how the diminutive St George Illawarra skipper played the final 20 minutes of Sunday’s crushing loss to South Sydney with a busted arm.
And this comes on the back of Hunt playing 70-plus minutes with a broken leg earlier this season.
It’s the unlucky break that will probably end up costing the Dragons the chance of playing finals footy this year given their incredibly difficult run to the end of the regular season.
But after what has been a dark period in the club’s history following the now infamous Paul Vaughan Covid breaking barbecue, it once again highlights what an inspirational leader Hunt has become for the Dragons.
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“He is a tough little bugger,” Griffin said.
“It is similar to his leg (that was fractured early in a game in March against Manly).
“He reeled out of a tackle on Sunday and I saw him holding his arm.
“But then he played the rest of the game.
“It wasn’t until in the sheds he said it was a bit sore.
“Then they X rayed him (on Monday) and he has a fracture.
“It doesn’t need surgery but it is four to six weeks, best case four.”
When Griffin named Hunt as his captain this year a lot of people were quick to question if the same player who has been widely lambasted in recent years for being overpaid on his $1.1 million-a-season salary was the right man to be leading this famous club.
But the gritty and no-nonsense No 7 has once again proven what a valuable leader he has become, with this effort coming on the back of his standout two-try performance in Queensland’s shock victory in the final State of Origin.
And Hunt has a history of playing through the pain barrier, not just with his broken leg earlier this year.
But he also famously cut off a plaster cast as a 13-year-old boy so he could play in a grand final, just so as he wouldn’t let down his teammates.
And while the Dragons were anything but impressive in the game against the Rabbitohs, Hunt was the one player who could have held his head high with another really solid effort.
Griffin said that while the injury does not require surgery Hunt was expected to be sidelined for between four and six weeks.
Griffin is now expected to go partner Corey Norman with Adam Clune in the halves for Friday night’s game against the Canberra Raiders ahead of young Jayden Sullivan.
It is a cruel blow for the Dragons who are still dealing with the staggered suspensions for those players serving bans for attending Vaughan’s barbecue.
But Griffin couldn’t hide his pride in Hunt.
“He has been fantastic. He has been a great leader,” Griffin added.
Though the Dragons’ season is at the crossroads ahead of the clash with the Raiders.
They are now in ninth spot, equal with the eighth placed Raiders and 10th placed Knights on 18 competition points (the Titans were on 16 points before the Monday night game against the Bulldogs).
While they will struggle to get Hunt before the finals with remaining games after the Raiders against the Panthers, Roosters, Cowboys and Rabbitohs, Griffin wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.
“We will be right, we just have to get on with it,” Griffin said.
DRAGONS STILL FIGHTING BUT IS TIME FOR THE TOWEL?
—Chris Honnery
A Latrell Mitchell double has kept South Sydney within touch of a top two finish following a 50-14 thrashing over the Dragons, who are now fighting to keep their season alive.
The Rabbitohs’ flight to Rockhampton on Saturday had less turbulence than their entire weekend but the third-placed side continued their winning ways by taking advantage of a defensively poor Dragons side in front of an empty Suncorp Stadium.
Despite having to deal with a 27-hour delayed kickoff, the Rabbitohs remained in touch of a top two finish led by in-form halves pairing Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker.
From the top of the ladder to the bottom-half of the finals-bound teams, the Dragons are fighting to keep their finals hopes alive after suffering their third consecutive defeat.
The Dragons were brave in the first half, trailing by just 24-10 before South Sydney piled on four-tries-to-one in the second stanza.
Bennett said he had felt slightly worried after Saturday’s chaotic events.
“We lost a day yesterday,” Bennett said.
“We were pretty tired at the end of it.
“I was a bit worried about the day and how we handled it but I just left everything normal and tried not to overplay anything.
“We turned up here with a pretty good attitude.
“We got a good start and then lost our way a bit, then in the second half we dominated much more than we did in the first half.”
BOUNCING BUNNIES
Coach Wayne Bennett has his side kicking into gear at the right time of year, backing up their 60-22 thrashing of the Warriors last weekend with a dominant 36-point win.
It was the Rabbitohs’ biggest two-game haul since 1910, according to Fox Sports.
The Adam Reynolds-Cody Walker halves pairing are leading the charge with the former on track to reach 200 points this season while the latter has 19 try assists in his past seven games.
But their most challenging period is ahead of them with Sunday afternoon’s win coming ahead of a tough run to the finals, facing top eight sides in four of their remaining five games – starting with Parramatta next weekend.
Despite their eighth straight win, one thing remains — the Rabbitohs need to fix up their defence to go toe-to-toe with the might of competition leaders Melbourne or Penrith.
After rating last weekend’s win over the Warriors as a “six out of 10”, Bennett said it was similar on Sunday night.
“It was about the same,” he said.
“It was a bit all over the place.
“We did some ordinary stuff and then some really good football.”
TOUGH ROAD AHEAD
The Dragons, meanwhile, are hanging on to their eighth-spot by the skin of their teeth.
The Red V also have one of the toughest runs to the finals, playing three of their next five games against top eight side.
St George Illawarra sit on 18 points alongside three other sides, with points differential only keeping them in eighth spot.
They finished the match with a costly 46 missed tackles and eight errors.
“The disappointing thing was the last 15 minutes. It hurt us tonight in the moment, but the points for and against at this time of year don’t help you,” Dragons coach Anthony Griffin said.
“We’ll get back to it next week and we’ll get most of our troops back. When we get the other guys back in and start winning some games.”
TURBULENT WEEKEND
No two teams were more impacted by Queensland’s snap three-day lockdown this weekend than the Dragons and Rabbitohs.
Walker x Mitchell. What a combo 🔥
— Fox League (@FOXNRL) August 1, 2021
ðŸˆ#NRLDragonsSouths
📠https://t.co/zFxXqefnZq
📺 WATCH on @kayosportshttps://t.co/CPD9oqpK3p
📲 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/SHeNv32Qedpic.twitter.com/Y1EnAMqfCy
They were supposed to have played their Round 20 clash on Saturday afternoon in Rockhampton to give the central Queensland locals their first ever NRL match at Browne Park.
Instead, South Sydney were sensationally turned around at the Rockhampton airport while St George Illawarra went from a jersey presentation to sitting in their hotel room.
“It was one of the weirdest days we’ve all had,” Dragons coach Anthony Griffin said.
‘It was worse last year’: Bennett bemused by postponement
— Nick Campton
Wayne Bennett has questioned the NRL’s decision to postpone South Sydney’s match against the Dragons after the Rabbitohs were sensationally recalled from the airport tarmac to return to their hub on the Gold Coast.
South Sydney had already flown north for their scheduled match against the St George Illawarra at 3pm on Saturday when the decision was made to suspend the day’s matches.
The Rabbitohs were forced to refuel and return south after the Queensland government announced a snap lockdown for 11 LGA’s in the south east of the state which would go into effect at 4pm.
“There’s no reason why we can’t play in Rockhampton,” Bennett said. “We have never been more COVID compliant, we are all in the bubbles, it was worse last year and we played.
“But anyway the decision has been made.
“We had just got off the plane only to be told the game is off. We are now sitting here at the airport waiting for the plane to be refuelled to go back home.”
Bennett revealed the Rabbitohs were totally in the dark until they touched down in Rockhampton.
“We had no idea what was going on,” he said. “We were up in the air and a few players were able to get texts as we landed.
“It’s a debacle for Rockhampton. They have spent so much money on this event and the local people, from the canteens to the hotels ... these fans have travelled for hours to see this game and suddenly it’s off.”
The future of the premiership is now up in the air after the NRL suspended the three Saturday matches. It’s expected they will be rescheduled, but precisely when or where remains a mystery as the NRL scrambles to meet this latest Covid challenge.
Rockhampton may yet earn a reprieve, with the NRL exploring the possibility of playing the rest of the round in regional areas outside of the current hotspot.
Townsville has also been pegged as a potential host for the remainder of Round 20.
“I don’t know if the comp will go ahead, that’s in the hands of the NRL and the government to work out,” Bennett said. “Every club is in the same situation in this climate so we just have to deal with it.”
The other Saturday games, originally pegged as a double-header at Suncorp Stadium with a Newcastle-Canberra clash leading into the Storm-Panthers grand final rematch, have also been rescheduled.
It’s the first time since the competition was suspended in March last year that matches have been postponed.
Hopeful Hunt rolling with punches
— Peter Badel
Like the rest of the NRL’s biggest stars, St George Illawarra skipper Ben Hunt has had to roll with plenty of punches through the Covid chaos of the last 18 months, but Saturday’s madness takes the cake.
In a split-second, Hunt went from preparing to lead the Dragons into battle against South Sydney in Rockhampton to not knowing when or where his side will play again this year.
“It’s definitely been a wild day,” Hunt said.
“I was getting ready to play in Rockhampton, where I’m from, for the first time in 12 years or so — we had a team meeting before we got on the bus and got the call that it was off.
“Hook (coach Anthony Griffin) had just done a jersey presentation for Tariq Sims’ 200th game and they had a video of some of his career highlights, everyone was pretty fired up to get going, and that’s when it got knocked on the head.
“The meeting literally just finished, we were about to walk out, and the team manager came up and told us to wait. We hung around for half an hour, then we got told it was off.”
Hunt said the players were doing their best to deal with the latest crackdown.
With everything that’s happened since the start of last season, Hunt said the players were becoming sadly familiar with things changing on short notice.
“It was a bit of a shock, but at the same time we’re kind of used to things changing,” Hunt said. “We’ve talked about that whatever Covid tossed up, there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to move on.
“We just have to front up and do our best whenever we play again.
We will update you as soon as possible when we know when our match will go ahead. #redvpic.twitter.com/5RKt0yFrNO
— St George Illawarra Dragons (@NRL_Dragons) July 31, 2021
“I know they’re hopeful of getting it on tomorrow, but that’s about it. I don’t really have the answers. The NRL are looking into all the options they have but, as of now, I just don’t know.”
The players’ families were scheduled to leave isolation in the next few days but with Level 4 protocols once again being enacted for every player in the competition, the future seems cloudier than ever.
The only way for Hunt and his counterparts to keep their heads on is to accept anything is possible.
“I was really looking forward to playing in Rocky,” he said. “I still have a lot of friends and family up there. I try and get back there whenever I can in the off-season.
“It would have been pretty special to get a game at home but you never know — hopefully in the future we get there, or maybe even tomorrow. Who knows what’s going on, anything can happen.”
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH PODCAST
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FOX READY TO FOLLOW NRL’S LEAD
— Michael Carayannis
The NRL was on Saturday night desperately scrambling to uphold its commitment to have every game shown live in a bid to protect its $2 billion broadcast deal.
Fox Sports executive director Steve Crawley backed the NRL to get through its latest hurdle and reaffirmed the pay-television network’s commitment to the game.
Despite the postponement of three games on Saturday and a relocation on Sunday, Crawley said his team were prepared to be agile.
“We would rather have a problem like that than not having any football,” he said.
“That’s the great thing about being a partner of Peter V’landys and the NRL, you know if it’s possible, it’s probable. You admire that so much.
“We are in their hands and we are comfortable with that.”
The NRL will need to fulfil their contractual obligations as they battle another Covid-19 scare that forced the game into exile last year.
The NRL’s relocation cost will add up to between $12 million and $15 million per month so they cannot afford a slip in broadcast revenue.
Foxtel agreed to extend their broadcast deal until the end of 2027 while Channel 9’s free-to-air commitment ends next year.
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