From outcast to an Origin star for Ben
BEN Hunt’s career resurrection is complete with the Brisbane Broncos product snaring Queensland’s No.7 jersey in a Maroons revolution alongside childhood friend Andrew McCullough.
Hunt will today be named as the new Queensland halfback and form a playmaking combination that dates back 17 years with Broncos hooker McCullough, retired skipper Cameron Smith’s replacement.
Hunt beat incumbent Kangaroos five-eighth Michael Morgan and Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in the race to replace Maroons talisman Cooper Cronk.
Melbourne dynamo Cameron Munster will retain the No.6 jersey for the series opener at the MCG on Wednesday week following his debut in last year’s decider.
Hunt suffered a corked thigh in Saturday night’s loss to Penrith but has assured Queensland coach Kevin Walters he was fit to play – paving the way for his ascension to the No.7 jumper made famous by Allan Langer.
His selection is further salt to the wound for the Broncos, who refused to enter a bidding war with the Dragons after opting to spend $1 million on Anthony Milford, Hunt’s former halves partner.
Maroons selector Darren Lockyer, who was Brisbane’s skipper when Hunt made his Broncos debut in 2009, said the Dragons’ $6 million man would relish the biggest test of his NRL career.
“The bigger the game, the more Ben Hunt enjoys it,” Lockyer said. “The big test for Queensland will be our decision-making without Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston.”
Hunt is adamant he will not be an injury concern for the Maroons in the build-up to the MCG opener.
“If I am picked I will be pretty right,” he said.
“There is 10 or so days (until the game) and it’s only a cork so hopefully I get it right.”
Hunt would be equally pleased for McCullough, who gets his crack at the Origin arena following 225 NRL games for the Broncos.
The 28-year-old could have been resigned to never playing for Queensland until the door opened recently.