Ghosts of Broncos’ past behind contentious new deal for Hunt
Broncos legend Sam Thaiday suspects the club may have learned a lesson from the past before giving Ben Hunt a one-year contract extension.
Brisbane’s decision to hand the 36-year-old playmaker a fresh one-year deal has been roundly criticised, because of his age and the underwhelming form he has shown in the Broncos’ stuttering title defence.
Broncos veteran Ben Hunt has signed a one-year contract extension. Getty
In an interview with The Courier Mail prior to the re-signing, Broncos great Corey Parker urged the club to not keep Hunt on its books.
Parker pointed out his limp form and said salary-cap dollars would be better spent topping up the pay packets of young guns like promising middle forward Xavier Willison and highly rated winger Phillip Coates.
On top of Parker’s remarks, social media comment sections have lit up with Broncos fans venting their frustration at the extension for Hunt, who will turn 37 in the first month of the 2027 season.
Thaiday wonders if Broncos bosses had in mind the exodus of leadership between 2015 and 2019, which left Brisbane with a very green roster that picked up the wooden spoon in 2020.
Justin Hodges retired after the Broncos’ defeat to the Cowboys in the 2015 NRL grand final. Parker then hung up the boots after the 2016 season, and Thaiday and Josh McGuire followed suit after the 2018 season. The club then lost another experienced head after the 2019 season when a chronic shoulder injury forced Matt Gillett into premature retirement.
Then, under the leadership of respected captain Alex Glenn but few other senior players, the Broncos managed just three wins in 2020 and collected the wooden spoon. It remains the only last-placed finish in Brisbane’s history.
“Maybe it’s a lesson learned from the past, because I can remember a couple of years before I retired it was Corey Parker, and the year before that was Justin Hodges ... Josh McGuire left to the Cowboys, and then you ended up with Alex Glenn as a senior player, and the only senior player there at this stage, captaining the team,” Thaiday said on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.
“And then what happens that season [in 2020] is they end up winning the wooden spoon.
“So maybe it’s a lesson from the past where they’re trying to keep some senior players around.”
Captain and champion halfback Adam Reynolds will retire at season’s end, while Payne Haas, the best front-rower in the game, is headed for South Sydney.
Adam Reynolds and Patrick Carrigan. Getty
“Reynolds retires, Payne Haas leaves and then if you lose Ben Hunt, you’ve then got to rely on Patrick Carrigan doing a lot of the heavy lifting, which he already does anyway for that team,” Thaiday added.
“So maybe it was those reasons that Ben Hunt got that little bit of an extension.”
Interestingly, Hunt made it clear early this season that he didn’t only want to stick around in 2027; he also had his sights set on replacing Reynolds at halfback.
It’s created an awkward situation involving Hunt and highly rated young playmaker Jonah Pezet, who will join Brisbane at season’s end after a one-year stint with Parramatta.
Broncos bosses may see Hunt as a potential mentor for the 23-year-old.
The Broncos also have on their books 22-year-old playmaker Tom Duffy, who this month re-signed until the end of 2028.
And although Ezra Mam played a blinder in the 2023 grand final, won a premiership in 2025 and earned a call-up for Queensland’s game one State of Origin squad this year, the flashy five-eighth is still only 23.
