HE'S set to notch 250 NRL games, but Ben Hunt is eyeing another hundred or so - and all of them for the Dragons.
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Not long past his 30th birthday, Hunt is one of the youngest players to reach the 250-game mark against the Cowboys on Sunday, and arguably the most ruthlessly scrutinised.
Knights halfback Mitchell Pearce - one of the handful of players to have reached the 250-game milestone sooner - is in the conversation, but he might not be by the end of Hunt's much-discussed six-year deal with the Dragons.
It will bring him within reach of 350 games and it's a mark he has every intention of reaching despite reports the club is trying offload at least some of the freight on his $6 million deal. It wouldn't be a simple task for the club and it's not something Hunt's entertaining ahead of game number 250.
"It's a bit of a surprise, it's snuck up on me really," Hunt said.
"It's been an up and down sort of career I guess, I've enjoyed some great times throughout it. There's been some lows in it as well but overall I feel pretty lucky to play the game for so long.
"The body's still travelling pretty well, I've been lucky with injuries. I think there's still some really good footy ahead of me so hopefully I can play some of that and get up around 350.
"That's definitely the goal, there's no thoughts of wanting to leave or go anywhere else. I'm just looking forward to getting a new coach and getting stuck in next year.
"It's going to be a good change for the club, a bit of a freshen up. Everyone will come back pretty eager to go and impress whoever's coaching. There's [no thought] from me about wanting to leave."
Who that new coach will be is tipped to be decided in the next fortnight, with Anthony Griffin heading a list of candidates that includes current caretaker Dean Young.
Griffin coached Hunt and five-eighth Corey Norman in the NYC and then for four years at NRL level with the Broncos between 2011-14.
They reached the finals in three of those four seasons and Hunt said he'd happily welcome his former coach to the club.
"I enjoyed playing under Anthony Griffin, I had him at the Broncos for a few years and in the under 20s as well," Hunt said.
"I really enjoyed being coached by him so if he [becomes] the coach here I'd be pretty happy with that.
"I've also really enjoyed having Deano as assistant coach the few years I've been here. The few weeks he's had here with us [as head coach] he's really tried to put his stamp on and do things the way he wants to do it.
"I think that's been really good from Deano and, even though we lost on the weekend, he's had a fair response from us the last couple of weeks."
With finals out of the equation, Hunt still has plenty of incentive over the final month of the competition with the first ever end-of-season Origin series looming in November.
"It's definitely something in the back of my mind now," he said.
"I've had a bit of a think about that over the last week and I've got to keep playing some good footy over the back end of the year.
"It's probably going to be a bit harder for teams that aren't in the finals to get into those sides. I'm just going to put my head down and do the best I can for the Dragons and that should be enough."