St George Illawarra Dragons star Ben Hunt is set to make an official decision on his future at the club in the coming days as he comes to the back end of his NRL playing career.
Ben Hunt, who is still playing for Queensland and Australia at the representative level, remains under contract with the Dragons until the end of the 2025 season but is keen to keep playing despite being 34 years old.
After opening contract talks with the Dragons over an extension in April,ย The Daily Telegraphย is reporting that coach Shane Flanagan will meet with Hunt and his partner Bridget to finalise a contract extension for the 2026 season
It is understood that an official announcement is just a fortnight away from happening, as he is in the final stages of negotiations and will occur once he returns from the second game of the 2024 State of Origin series.
โBen has told me he wants to stay,โ Flanagan told the publication.
โI will sit down with Ben and Bridget in the next week or two, have a feed, and talk about it. We'll go from there. Ben is happy where the club is heading and wants to be part of it.
โHe is all about winning and we are winning football games. We're lucky to have him and we want to keep him. He is crucial to our club. Ben's our captain, a rep player and a halfback.
โIt's not something we're in a rush to get done but we'll sit down as soon as possible when time allows us.
"We are going into an important game against Manly this week and then Ben will head into (Queensland) camp so we will have to get to each other at the right time.
โBen trains all the time. It's not like he's injured and has one day at training and then the next day off. His body is still in good shape, he's looked after himself for a long period of time. That's the modern day footballer.โ
The contract extension would see him enter the NRL record books for most career games and will likely finish around the 370 to 385 mark - he is currently on 324 first-grade matches.
This would see him only behind former Melbourne Storm hooker Cameron Smith on the all-time record NRL games leaderboard.
โIt's probable โ but anything is possible,โ Hunt's manager Col Davis added.
No stranger to the rumour mill, less than 12 months ago Hunt was hoping to secure an early release from the club after a series of broken promises.
Linked with theย Brisbane Broncosย andย Gold Coast Titansย at the time, the tension between the Dragons and Hunt came after the sacking ofย Anthony Griffin, the failed recruitment ofย Viliame Kikau, and the halfback's loss of faith.
A member of theย NRL's 300-game club, Hunt joined the Dragons at the beginning of 2018 and has since become one of the club's best players.
However, while he has amassed 137 games and 163 points for the club, he has unfortunately never been able to lead them to a Grand Final or cement a regular spot in the finals series.
The new contract would allow him to achieve this, as the Dragons are securing new talent and are currently rebuilding underย Shane Flanagan, a former premiership-winning coach with theย Cronulla Sharks.
