{"id":329893,"date":"2023-09-10T02:37:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-10T02:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329893"},"modified":"2023-09-10T04:01:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-10T04:01:11","slug":"hunts-dragons-concession-as-coach-digs-heels-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=329893","title":{"rendered":"Hunt's Dragons concession as coach 'digs heels in'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragons<\/a> captain Ben Hunt<\/a> has admitted that he still desires to return home to Queensland despite incoming coach Shane Flanagan's refusal to grant a release<\/a> from the final two years of his contract.<\/p>\n

According to the Sydney Morning Herald<\/a>, Hunt \ufeffwill participate in the Dragons' pre-season program but still intends to finish his playing career in his home state of Queensland.<\/p>\n

In June, \ufeffHunt's management called for an immediate release<\/a> from his playing contract, but Flanagan \ufeffvowed he would not let Hunt break his contract prematurely to join a rival club.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Box office' Wallabies make World Cup statement<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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"Flanno (Flannagan) is digging his heels in; he's coming in as coach, he wants to win and he wants me there, which I understand," Hunt told The Sydney Morning Herald.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I've never had any issues with Flanno, and we've had some open conversations. I think he'll bring in a good culture; he's straight up and down, he's got a history of being good at recruitment, and what we need is some senior players with experience who can help the young squad.<\/p>\n

"At this stage, I'll be heading back to the Dragons for the pre-season."<\/p>\n

The Gold Coast Titans were an early favourite to secure Hunt's services, but the club has since locked up Tino Fa'asuamaleaui and David Fifita on deals worth an estimated $15 million<\/a> until the end of 2033 and 2026 respectively.<\/p>\n

Hunt confessed that the last two months of the season, which saw the Dragons lose eight of their last nine games, had him looking eagerly towards the post-season.<\/p>\n

"Since that Origin period it's been a long couple of months," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

"We kept trying hard and competing hard in games, but things kept going wrong, and we kept hurting ourselves.<\/p>\n

"I always love playing, but I was really looking forward to a break for the first time. It's been a big year, there's been a lot of footy, and when you keep having setbacks, it gets a bit harder to get out of bed each day."<\/p>\n

This week, Flanagan signed his son and former Bulldogs halfback Kyle Flanagan<\/a>, intending to use him as a utility with Hunt the preferred option at No.7.<\/p>\n

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

With no equal replacements for Hunt on the open market, the 33-year-old looks unlikely to find an out anytime soon.<\/p>\n

However, with several playmakers to flood the market at the end of 2024, Hunt may push to leave this time next year giving the Dragons 12 months to find a suitable replacement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dragons captain Ben Hunt has admitted that he still desires to return home to Queensland despite incoming coach Shane Flanagan's refusal to grant a release […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311829,"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\/329893"}],"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=329893"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329896,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329893\/revisions\/329896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/311829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}