Could Ben Hunt’s signing cost Broncos a future star… Or two?

The seemingly worst-kept secret in recent times anywhere in the NRL has been confirmed.

Former St George Illawarra Dragons captain Ben Hunt, who was released by the club in recent weeks, will finish his career where it started with the Brisbane Broncos.

The deal, believed to be worth around $550,000 per year across the 2025 and 2026 campaigns, is intriguing on a number of levels when you pull it apart.

Maybe personally for Hunt is the biggest question mark factor after his signing was made official.

He has made it clear on more than one occasion that he doesn't want to play hooker at NRL level. He didn't want to do it at the Dragons, and hasn't wanted to do it elsewhere, despite playing the position superbly at State of Origin level in tandem with Harry Grant.

And yet, at the Broncos, that's likely what he will be doing if they are at full strength.

The big question around that of course is when Ezra Mam will be available after his off-season off-field incident. As it stands, Hunt and Adam Reynolds, who will likely play his final season in 2025 before hanging up the boots, will likely start the 2024 campaign in the halves.

But once Mam does return - and it's evident that he will at some point given Michael Maguire has confirmed Mam will not be axed by the club - the halves combination goes back to being Reynolds and Mam.

That, and Hunt has already all but confirmed it, moves the Queensland Maroons State of Origin star to the hooking position, which is already overloaded with talent at Red Hill.

Billy Walters and Tyson Smoothy shared responsibilities throughout the 2024 campaign under the coaching of Kevin Walters. It's widely thought that won't be the case heading into 2025 under Maguire, with the out of favour Cory Paix, and more importantly, young gun Blake Mozer at the club.

Mozer is the first of the two players Brisbane will be understandably fearful of losing with Hunt's arrival.

There is approximately zero chance Mozer waits until 2027 for a proper crack at the Broncos' number nine jumper.

He has excelled at every level he has tried his hand at, is a Queensland junior State of Origin player, a likely future senior one and has been compared to Cameron Smith by plenty of good judges.

That's not always the way things pan out, and putting plenty of pressure on youngsters isn't the best policy, but it's clear Mozer needs game time this year if he is going to remain at Red Hill.

Whether he will settle for that game time coming in tandem with Hunt at number nine once he does shuffle out of the halves somewhere between a third and half of the way through the 2025 season remains to be seen, but a full campaign in the QLD Cup is not something that is likely to go down well.

What that does mean is that Billy Walters, Tyson Smoothy and Cory Paix's futures are all up in the air. Paix is the most likely to leave, having previously been linked with an early release from the Broncos and seemingly unlikely to feature moving forward.

A new coach brings fresh ideas and new opportunities, with Paix a former junior State of Origin player who can also contribute in the halves, but he looks a long way down the pecking order at the moment.

Maguire made no apologies speaking to News Corp regarding the likely shake up of the best 17 at Red Hill.

“It's competition," Maguire said.

“Billy Walters is a good player, but having ‘Hunty' gives me flexibility and some good thoughts on how we do things.

“It's great because so much talent brings competition.

“It makes everyone better having competition around.

“Billy has done a great job for the club, but I will use that competition to get the best out of training days because the game is a reflection of what you do at training.”

Maybe the biggest issue out of all this is that Mozer is off-contract at the end of 2025 and is now able to negotiate with rivals, of which there should be no shortage pulling out the chequebook.

In the halves, it's Coby Black who the Broncos will be concerned about losing.

Seen as the long-term halfback replacement for Reynolds, he would have been counting on getting a proper crack at the NRL in 2026. There is almost no way Reynolds plays on beyond the end of 2025, although it has been reported the plan is that he would then remain at Red Hill in a specialist coaching position.

Black is maybe less of a concern given his youthfulness even when compared to Mozer, but he is a generational talent who will be ready for the NRL before long.

He is contracted until the end of 2026, but if he starts to become disgruntled with a lack of progression, there is a chance he signs elsewhere even for 2027.

The issue that ties the pair together over their future is the salary cap.

The Broncos' cap is bloated - significantly. They have already re-signed Reece Walsh to a long-term, million-dollar-plus per year deal, they have Payne Haas on more than a million dollars per year, Patrick Carrigan is rumoured to be on around $800,000 per year, Selwyn Cobbo and Kotoni Staggs are currently in negotiations over their respective futures, and recent upgrades for the likes of Ezra Mam, Brendan Piakura and Jordan Riki will have pushed the club to breaking point.

Even with Reynolds likely dropping off the playing books at the end of 2025, it leaves the Broncos in between a rock and a hard place salary wise, with Mozer and Black likely to both need upgrades over the coming 24 months if they are going to remain in Brisbane long-term.

I won't sound the death blow for Brisbane when it comes to the duo, but with Hunt being on over half a million dollars per year at the back end of his career, it could be the exact sort of deal which costs the club their future.

Only time will tell.