DRAGONS halfback Ben Hunt is keen to use the end-of-season Test campaign as springboard into 2020 as the club looks to bounce back from a horror 2019.
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It was tumultuous year for the Dragons on and off the park, Hunt riding the ups and downs more than most in what's been a roller coaster ride since shifting to Wollongong.
After a strong start to the year Hunt won plenty of praise for playing all 240 minutes of Queensland's Origin campaign at hooker, but the drain took a visible toll on his club form over the latter part of the season.
The downturn, and his club's 15th placed finish, put his Test spot in jeopardy but Mal Meninga continued his long-held faith in the 29-year-old's utility value.
"You're always hopeful you get in these sides but you're not sure because of how our year went," Hunt said.
"I'm just really grateful that Mal has that faith in me. It's lucky I've got a bit of versatility in my game where I can play a couple of positions and he enjoys having someone like that in the team.
"In these camps you're playing in such a high quality side you're just happy to get out on the field when you can.
"The Dragons didn't have the season we wanted but to play this sort of footy at the end of the year it makes you feel good and reasonably confident about yourself and the footy you can play."
Being a role-player is a pleasant change from clubland where, as the Dragons million-dollar man, the weight of wins and losses inevitably fall on his shoulders.
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It's not something he shied away from in debriefing his 2019 campaign, but he's hoping to use the Test campaign as a platform heading into what's sure to be a testing preseason.
"I'm actually really looking forward to preseason," Hunt said.
"I hate them because they're hard so hard but I'm looking forward to getting back, working hard on what went wrong last year. I think we're going to change a lot of things this year in how we play.
"We had a bit of a debrief but the biggest thing for me is getting into preseason and looking at my own game. I was a long way off my best this year so we've got to look at that and be really honest with myself in what I was doing and fix it.
"I've got to review some tape and really look what I was doing right and wrong. I just want to focus on my role and what I can do for the team. It starts in preseason."
The focus on himself mimics the approach he took ahead of his first season in the red v, one that saw him playing some of the best footy of his career.
"I came here really excited and just wanted to focus on my role and what I could contribute to the team," he said.
"When you start losing games back to back your mind starts thinking about what other people are doing, what you're not doing right instead of concentrating what you can do.
"I've got a fresh start for this preseason, I'm coming in with a bit of confidence from the Tests and I'm looking forward to it."