Legendary rugby league coach Phil Gould says he would have loved to work with a teenage Ben Hunt before his NRL career took off.
Hunt is now 32 years old and a veteran of 274 NRL games with the Broncos and Dragons, as well as seven Tests for Australia and 11 Origin games for Queensland.
He’s been maligned at times throughout – an infamous error in the 2015 grand final the lowlight of what has been an otherwise classy career.
Most recently Hunt masterminded a stunning Anzac Day upset over the Roosters at the SCG, considered the biggest regular-season game of the year for the Chooks and St George Illawarra.
Gould was asked about Hunt on Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus podcast.
“I’d loved to have coached him in his teenage years,” Gould said.
“I think that’s where you really develop your halfbacks, and your playmakers. I’d have loved to coach him early in his career.
“He’s the finished product now, and he’s 31 or 32 years of age, so there’s not many things he is going to change in his game now.
“In the early part of his career, breaking into rep football, and the work he was doing with the Broncos – there were things about him that I felt he could do better. But he’s always been a wholehearted physical player, and always gives 100 per cent of himself.
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“He’s not the trickster that some other halfbacks are. I think that’s got to be put into your repertoire early in your career, you’ve got to have that knowledge and that mindset from your teenage years.
“Developing a halfback takes a long time. They are going to peak at 26, 27, 28, and then it’s how long can they maintain their career.
“If I had the chance to coach Ben Hunt, he might have turned out no different, I don’t know. But that’s when I’d like to coach the players, when they’re younger.”
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Hunt spent the first eight years of his career at Brisbane, before moving south to take up an offer with the Dragons worth $1.2 million a season.
At the time it made him the highest-paid player in the NRL, and there was plenty of criticism aimed at him and the Red V.
But Gould believes the Dragons will now be considering extending his deal in Wollongong.
“He’s got no fear. I felt really sad for him that day he dropped the ball from the kick-off (in the 2015 grand final),” Gould said.
“He had a phenomenal season, and a phenomenal day. Sometimes those things happen.
“That’s part of character building and it’s part of the game. Most people will remember him for that moment, but I don’t, I remember for so many other moments.
“People looked at his contract when he signed with the Dragons and thought ‘that’s a lot of money’, but I would say they will be in the market for re-signing him, because they can’t deal without him at the moment.”
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