THE extraordinary lengths St George Illawarra went to lure Ben Hunt to the club have been revealed, including coach Paul McGregor’s timely arrival at a key meeting on his jet ski.

Having missed out on Luke Keary, Lachlan Coote and Corey Norman, the Red V needed to land a big fish and the pursuit of Hunt shows their persistence and creativity.

Three meetings, a tour of Wollongong, a look at the big men on their books, a head turning get-together on the beach with McGregor, who arrived on a jet ski, and assistance for his partner to study at university. After all that, they got their man.

“We took Ben to the best unit in Wollongong,” Dragons’ Director of Rugby League Pathways Ian Millward told the Market Watch podcast.

Round 19

“I said to him ‘Paul McGregor’s a few k’s down to the next beach’. He said ‘is Paul coming?’ I said ‘yes he is, just hold on a minute’. Mary’s got a great jet ski and we could see Mary coming along the beach, get out on the beach (and) off his jet ski.”

Ben Hunt of Brisbane in action. Source: News Corp Australia

At that point the No.7 had “spoken to three clubs” but it wasn’t until their third meeting they started talking money and terms.

After their initial get-together the Dragons left impressed that Hunt came to them with his own set of criteria.

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It’s fitting as Hunt ticked every box on their list.

But with the likes of Chad Townsend, Josh Reynolds, Luke Brooks and Shaun Johnson also off-contract, why Hunt?

“We needed to go out (to market) and get an established halfback. We’re also looking for a player that played on the ball. I know you guys [media] are pretty critical at the moment but I’ll give you the reason why we (signed him),” Millward explained.

“First of all, if you look at Hunt over the last three years, he’s been in the top three for try assists. Last year everyone said he didn’t have a great year. Cooper Cronk had 23 try assists, Johnathan (Thurston) had 22 and Ben had 21.

Ben Ikin, Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover are joined by Dragons recruitment boss Ian Millward to discuss the club’s recruitment plan and why it revolves around Ben Hunt.

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“In 2014 he had a fantastic year and made the Four Nations. In 2015 he made the grand final. In 2016 he had a positional change.

“Those previous two seasons he played on the ball: This means he can play left and right as a true seven.

“When (halves coach) Kevvy Walters left the Broncos in 2016 he was locked in on the right.

“In all our video analysis and all our stats he was still in the top three in some of the key elements we were looking for.”

The other key indicator for the Dragons in making the signing was Hunt’s age.

Ben Hunt of Brisbane scores a try. Source: News Corp Australia

While the game’s most dominant halves, Thurston and Cronk are 33, Hunt turns 27 at the end of the month.

With a shortage of quality halves on the market, the Dragons knew it would take a bold move to pry the Brisbane product out of Red Hill.

Enter the five-year-deal with an option for an additional season worth $6 million.

Traditionally the Broncos refuse to offer contracts longer than three years.

In fact, only three players in the club’s history have signed a four-year-deal.

They were Darren Lockyer, Israel Folau and Jack Reed but Millward said the Broncos upped the ante late in negotiations in an effort to make Hunt the fourth player to join that illustrious list.

“He’s 26, with 150 (plus) games under his belt (and) we felt there was way more improvement in him,” he explained.

“I know everyone talks about the money side but the salary cap has gone up and you have to go back to supply and demand and we weren’t the only club in for him.

Ben Hunt gets a kick away as he is tackled by Jason Nightingale. Source: News Corp Australia

“(People don’t realise) the lengths the Broncos went at the death to keep Ben and the amount of money and the amount of years. They don’t normally push over three years and they offered longer.

“We have a bit of a vision for where we want to go forward and were really happy with Ben in regards to his personality off the field.

“We’re happy with what we see as a player moving forward but also very happy with what we see as a person.”