On paper, the appointment by coach Anthony Griffin made an inordinate amount of sense. With a glut of experience having walked out the door, Hunt's a veteran of 252 NRL games, nine Origins and seven Tests.

Of the current Dragons roster, he's the only player that resembles a regular in the latter two representative arenas. He'll also wear the number seven, still the most important on the park.

It's also where the appointment gets murkier. Hunt played just five of 19 games in his preferred number last season after being thrown on the 'selection committee' carousel.

Beyond that, there's been no more scrutinised player in the NRL since he joined the game's most famous club on a mammoth six-year deal. The $6 million price-tag also brought mammoth expectations.

One might argue they remain impossible to meet but, to his credit, the 30-year-old has never bristled at the criticism, certainly not outwardly.

There is no escaping it though, and in a year in which he's also trying to re-establish himself as genuine halfback, the question for most people when it came to captaincy was simple - does he really need it? It's not an unexpected one when put to him directly.

"When Hook first told me he wanted me to take a few days to think about it whether I was a hundred per cent committed to the job and there was a couple of sleepless nights in there thinking about it," Hunt said.

"My initial thoughts were 'yeah I'm in' but he asked me to think about it and I'm glad he did. I had a good weekend at home and really thought about it, but I should have just stuck with my initial answer. I was in straight away.

"I think I've had enough things over my career that've helped me develop myself to take this on board. There's been setbacks and things that have happened to me but I think they've made me strong and helped me take this challenge on.

"Hook's said it's going to be a fair challenge for me and something he feels will help me grow and I agree with him. There's pressure there, but I think it's good pressure something that's going to help me come out of my shell a bit more and really give to the team."

With Griffin having already backed him as a pure No.7, one can only assume the captaincy and arrival of best mate Andrew McCullough to play No. 9 would just about end the pin-balling around the team sheet. It's an endorsement, but not one he's resting on.

"It's still up to me, if I'm not playing good footy then you can find a new captain pretty quick," he said ahead of his first outing as captain in Saturday's Charity Shield clash in Mudgee.

"It does give you a lot of trust the coaching staff, that they really have faith in you, and it [the captaincy] is another level of that."

Read more: McCullough out to write his own script after Dragons switch

Amid all of it - the captaincy, the pressure, a season-ending injury to his predecessor Cam McInnes - the arrival of best mate Andrew McCullough at the club is a Godsend, off the field as much as on it, but they won't be chewing each other's ears off about footy.

"It's something I've always felt with most of my mates from footy, when you're not at footy you don't talk about footy," Hunt said.

"It's not necessarily intentional, it's just the way it is. Macca stayed with me for a few days when he first came down here there was hardly a mention of footy at all. That's just the way we've always been away from footy and the way we enjoy it.

"It's always great to get an old player like that that's played so many games, a veteran, and to have such a good mate for so many years come down here and join up again is something I'll enjoy on the field and off the field."

On the park, Griffin will be hoping his former Broncos NYC stars can recapture their best form, which unquestionably came when working in tandem in Brisbane.

"I think there'll be a bit of instinct there but it'll still take a couple of games," Hunt said.

"It's been few years now since we played with each other and we're playing with a lot of different players to who we were playing with back then. It might take a few games but hopefully it doesn't take too long."

It remains to be seen if Corey Norman is on deck for a round-one walk down memory lane, with the club still in the midst of challenging his one-game suspension.

Should the club be unsuccessful, Adam Clune has the inside running to partner Hunt in round one, but the skipper says Griffin can't go wrong with Clune or rookie Jayden Sullivan.

"I'm happy with either. They both bring different things in their own way," Hunt said.

"Cluney's a really controlling type player, he's got a good kicking game and can get us around the park really well. Sully's more of a genuine five-eighth where he can run the ball and take the line on a lot more.

"It depends on what the coaches want to do but I'm sure both of them will get a little bit of time out at Mudgee to put their case forward and see how they go."