By Nick Wright
Ben Hunt returns to the Broncos declaring he is one of a “couple of old fossils” capable of showing the club’s young talent what premiership success looks like.
Hunt is set to start the season at five-eighth, before moving to hooker once Ezra Mam returns from an expected lengthy suspension after being charged with drug and unlicensed driving.
Among the rookies who should benefit from Hunt’s influence are Coby Black.
Ben Hunt has returned to the Brisbane Broncos, who he made his NRL debut with, after a six-year stint with the Dragons.Credit: Getty Images
Heralded as Brisbane’s next long-term halfback, Black was expected to vie to be the full-time replacement for Adam Reynolds, should 2025 be the skipper’s last.
Now that Hunt had signed a two-year deal, he was expected to take the reins in that instance, likely leaving Black to continue honing his craft for an extra season in the Queensland Cup.
But Reynolds has implored the 18-year-old and his fellow emerging prospects to embrace the challenge of internal competition, and feed off the experience Hunt would provide.
“When there’s competition out there at training it makes every player better, it doesn’t matter who you are,” Reynolds said, when asked what Hunt’s presence would mean for Black.
“Ben would add to that. It’s not to say he won’t make everyone else in the team better as well, he’s a competitor who brings a lot of experience.
“We know what he brings to the football field, [and] he’s a leader off the football field. He’s an X-factor amongst some of the game’s greats.”
Black’s Souths Logan coach, Karmichael Hunt, made his NRL debut as a 17-year-old, and said leaders in Darren Lockyer, Shane Webcke, Petero Civoniceva and Brad Thorn “protected” him and allowed him to blossom into a premier fullback.
Black could reap the same benefits under Reynolds and Hunt.
“My youth was balanced out by the leaders in the team ... the players who protected us young kids out on the field,” Karmichael Hunt said last year.
“It was definitely a calming influence on me – the leaders around you who had won premierships and played 200-plus games.
“Their calmness and conviction around how to prepare and what to do when you’re executing the game plan allowed me to be loose and calm enough.”
Reynolds has refused to confirm the forthcoming campaign would be his last, stressing “we’ll see how the body’s feeling halfway through the year”.
His injury-riddled 2024 – Reynolds played just 13 games last season due to biceps and hamstring setbacks – could present opportunities for Black to debut alongside Hunt.
Brisbane has four dummy-halves on the roster already, with Blake Mozer – tipped to be the club’s long-term No.9 – coming off contract in 2025 and fighting for regular game time.
Hunt believed he would not only inject vital experience into the squad’s youth, but forge one of the most lethal spine partnerships in the NRL.
“A couple of old fossils leading the young kids around, I’m really looking forward to that,” Hunt told 4BC.
“Having the opportunity to link with Reyno and start working on a plan on how we can really gel is something I’m really looking forward to.”
Ben Hunt
“My priority is to play in the halves, but hooker definitely isn’t an issue. Wouldn’t it be great to come back 10 years later and win a premiership with that great club?
“I do believe they’ve got the troops there to do it.”