Ben ready to hook in for a shot at Origin
BEN Hunt has only started at hooker six times in his NRL career but he insists that’s enough to make him confident he can wear Queensland’s No.9 jersey.
Halfback Hunt has come off the bench in six of his eight representative games for the Maroons and Kangaroos and played No.7 in the other two.
NSW coach Brad Fittler said this week he believed both Hunt and Daly Cherry-evans would be picked to start for the Maroons in the June 5 State of Origin series opener at Suncorp Stadium.
While Hunt has made no secret of the fact he would prefer the halfback role ahead of Cherry-evans, he believes he can take the pressure of starting in the middle in representative football for the first time.
“I think I can handle it,” Hunt said.
“I don’t know if that’s what (coach) Kevvie (Walters) is thinking or not or if that’s what he wants to do.
“But I did a bit of that at the Broncos, I started at No.9 and by the end I felt pretty comfortable. I think I could handle it if he wanted me to.”
Hunt’s time starting at dummy-half includes three games in the 2017 finals series, where the Broncos went within one match of the grand final. Queensland’s incumbent hooker Andrew Mccullough appears out of favour with selectors after the Broncos’ poor start to the NRL season.
Mccullough has set up just one try and one linebreak during Brisbane’s 1-5 start, busting through just three tackles himself. Walters last week admitted the Broncos No.9 was “struggling”.