Ben Hunt signs two-year deal with Brisbane Broncos as he extends NRL career

Ben Hunt has reportedly signed with Brisbane and taken a pay cut to return to his native Queensland.

The Maroons and Kangaroos star, who ended his tumultuous time at the Dragons last month, had been talking to several clubs, with the Sydney Roosters believed to have been the frontrunner to secure the halfback and hooker’s services.

But The Daily Telegraph is reporting that an offer of a job at the Broncos after the 34-year-old retires, most likely at the end of the two-year contract he has penned, got the deal over the line.

The signing comes at a fortuitous time for the Broncos, who are due to be without five-eighth Ezra Mam for as much as half of next season with the star facing a lengthy NRL ban after being charged over drug-driving following a crash that seriously injured three people, including a young girl.

The Roosters had offered $1.4 million over two years to Hunt, but he chose to return to where it all began.

Hunt debuted for Brisbane in 2009 and left in 2018 for St George after the heartbreaking 2015 grand final loss to the Cowboys.

The 34-year-old will add valuable experience to Brisbane’s line-up, with the side suffering a horror season after their 2023 grand final loss to Penrith.

Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds said on Monday he would be thrilled to play with Hunt in the halves.

“Ben could do a lot,” Reynolds said.

“He’s a great player, with what he brings to the football field. He’s a leader off the football field as well, which is super important in any organisation.

“He’s an X factor and amongst some of the game’s greats, and obviously it would be a big benefit to get them here to the club.

“If you’ve got competition in the squad, it’s going to make you a better player and Ben would add to that if he did arrive here.

“He’s a competitor, brings a lot of experience and no doubt it would be a great addition to the squad if we can get him.”

One of Reynolds and Hunt, both genuine No.7s, would have to wear the No.6 jersey if they were to share halves duties.

“I’m sure we’d sit down and work out a game plan,” Reynolds said.

“We’ve got some smart assistant coaches here who are working in the background, figuring all that out now.

“If that happens to be the case, we’ll cross that path then but there’s no point getting into it too soon.”

The Broncos had a distinctive and successful style about their play in the 2023 run to the grand final. Reynolds’s masterful kicking game was on song, fullback Reece Walsh was chiming into the backline, with both scoring and creating tries.

Second-rower Kurt Capewell, now at the Warriors, was relentless with his push supports and the side’s line speed in defence was the best it has been since 2006.

Last season that all went out the window in a 12th placed finish. The Broncos depended on individual brilliance to get them out of trouble but their general play lacked purpose.

Penrith have a default position they fall back on no matter who the personnel is. It is a style they know works and the individuals in the team adhere to it.

The Broncos need to find a style under new coach Michael Maguire that works for them in the same way, with or without Hunt.

“Yes, it’s a collective as a whole team,” Reynolds said.

“And that’s why we’re doing a pre-season, to get through that.

“Skill doesn’t go away overnight.

“It’s very easy to skip over a few things when things aren’t going well and that’s one thing the coaches have done really well this pre-season is revisit all those sort of effort areas and everything that we’d seen to fall late last year.

“It’s so important to make sure that you keep touching on those sort of bases and the skill will come out after all the nitty gritty stuff.”

- With AAP