{"id":310323,"date":"2023-06-20T21:06:04","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T21:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=310323"},"modified":"2023-06-20T21:58:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T21:58:46","slug":"wait-until-origin-is-over-lockyer-rips-hunt-distraction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=310323","title":{"rendered":"'Wait until Origin is over': Lockyer rips Hunt 'distraction'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maroons<\/a> great Darren Lockyer<\/a> has questioned the timing of Ben Hunt<\/a>'s request to leave the Dragons<\/a>, suggesting he might have been better off waiting until after Origin II<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lockyer said while Hunt will likely be able to push the saga to the back of his mind come kick-off on Wednesday night, it would no doubt be a distraction during preparation.<\/p>\n

"I don't think it's a distraction for the team, I know Billy and the coaching staff would've addressed it and just said 'look, our focus is on what we do here as a team, what our jobs are'," Lockyer said on Wide World of Sports' QLDER<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Cummins, Lyon lift Aussies to famous Ashes victory<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Dragons make huge Hunt call as saga takes twist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

THE MOLE:<\/strong> Josh McGuire's dad rips 'rat' player who dobbed in firebrand son\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"If there is any distraction, I think it might be a slight one on Ben.<\/p>\n

"(The timing) is a bit strange. I guess we don't know all the inner workings of Ben, his family, his management, the reasons why, but (they) should've suggested maybe wait until Origin is over before you do that."<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Hunt has been named to play for the Dragons against the Warriors this week, amid calls for him to be stripped of the captaincy and dropped.<\/p>\n

But given the Dragons play on Friday night, barely 48 hours after Origin II, it remains to be seen whether or not Hunt actually takes the field.<\/p>\n

Dragons teammate Moses Mbye told SEN on Tuesday he would be surprised if Hunt played, but more due to the tight turnaround than the saga unfolding in the background.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 State of Origin series LIVE and exclusive on Channel 9 and<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lockyer said Hunt was most likely to end up at the Titans, where his experience would be perfect to mould and develop a relatively young side.<\/p>\n

He said Hunt's stint in Maroons camp at Sanctuary Cove would only help the Gold Coast pitch.<\/p>\n

\"Legend<\/p>\n

"He's a Rockhampton boy, he has a lot of family in Queensland. If I was to join the dots, I would think the Titans are the frontrunners," Lockyer said.<\/p>\n

"He's been at Sanctuary Cove, thought to himself 'look at how good the weather is in Queensland'."<\/p>\n

Hunt has indicated a desire to remain at No.7 at club level, rather than the hooker role he plays for the Maroons.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"If that's his desire \u2026 if you're going to pay Ben what he's worth, which is a fair bit of money, you're going to put him in a position he wants to play," Lockyer continued.<\/p>\n

"He doesn't look like he's slowing down, but he's getting to the back of his career, so you've gotta be mindful that you bring recruits with experience for a particular reason.<\/p>\n

"And that's to teach some young kids how to manage and win games."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maroons great Darren Lockyer has questioned the timing of Ben Hunt's request to leave the Dragons, suggesting he might have been better off waiting until […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":310325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=310323"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310328,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310323\/revisions\/310328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/310325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=310323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=310323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=310323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}