New Brisbane five-eighth Bent Hunt has revealed how his stunning one and only game for Ipswich at No.6 in 2017 will be a template for how he approaches the role with freedom this season.
Hunt, a regular No.7 for most of his NRL career who has played as a starting five-eighth on just 10 just occasions in 334 first-grade games, was dropped by former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett as starting half in 2017.
He went back to the Jets in Queensland Cup under innovative coaches Ben and Shane Walker, played No.6 with no shackles and set up four tries in a 44-24 win over Norths Devils.
It was a career turning point and he has not looked back since.
"It was a strange year, 2017," the 34-year-old Hunt told AAP.
"Wayne dropped me and that was a kick in the guts.
"When I first found out I was going to back to Ipswich I thought, 'this is going to be ordinary' but it was a breath of fresh air for me under the Walker boys.
"I played five-eighth and they gave me a licence to do whatever I wanted. I went out and had fun and had a great game. I came back into the Broncos team, played Origin three weeks later and went to the World Cup at the end of the year.
"It can be (the same at the Broncos in 2025). I will be playing with more of a free rein rather than organising everything. I still want to contribute to organising, and think I can still help us out in that regard, but I will have more of a long leash to go out and just play footy.
"The long-term flow of the game, Reyno (Adam Reynolds) will take control of that. I will chip in here and there but it really gives me a licence to play free off-the cuff footy."
Ben Walker, a former Brisbane half himself, said Hunt had the "perfect foil" alongside him.
"Ben has got a halfback in Adam who manages the game so well so he doesn't have to think about any of that," Walker told AAP.
"He can say, 'there's a hole there. I'll run. There's an overlap there, give me the ball'. It should be very simple for him. His thought pattern after every training session can be 'how many tries can I set up?' It will instinctively come."
Walker provided a fascinating insights into Hunt's 2017 turning point.
"Wayne rang me to say he was coming back to us and Shane and I were huge fans of his already," he said.
'"We knew when he grew up playing at St Brendan's College he was a dominant free spirit so we sat him down in the video room and took the shackles off him.
"We said 'go back to playing like you did as a kid and we don't care what happens. Just do your thing'.
"At five-eighth we told him to do whatever he wanted. He was terrific. We had a halfback, Dane Phillips, who was the Adam Reynolds of our team."
Ben Walker was the right coach at the right time for Hunt, albeit as a cameo.
"I knew exactly how he was feeling," Walker said.
"A lot of pressure had mounted on him in 2017 and I had felt it when Wayne did the same thing with me when I took over as halfback at the Broncos ... and then he put me back to reserve grade for two weeks."
