Emerging star Ben Hunt out to make No. 7 slot his own at Brisbane Broncos From Adam Scott to ASADA, it was a year of high drama in Australian sport. But which story do you believe was the biggest of 2013? Cast your vote and tune in on Christmas Day to find out the winner. Ben Hunt trains with the Broncos. Picture: Peter Wallis Source: News Limited IN THE high stakes poker game that is the battle to be Brisbane's halfback, Ben Hunt is the one man left sitting at the table with all the chips. And that is no surprise, given he is not only a grinder but one of the few teenagers to stare down a threat from Wayne Bennett and come out on top. Hunt was entering his final year at St Brendan's College in Yeppoon when then Broncos coach Bennett requested the teenager, who the club had on scholarship since he was 13, move to Brisbane immediately. "We both said no, that won't happen," Hunt's father Geoff said. He is not missing his senior year with the mates he grew up with all his life. (Bennett) didn't threaten us but more or less said they could cut his contract. I said 'Wayne, you do what you want to do but I'm not taking that away from the kid, because I've been through it and I know what it means to him'. So they flew him down once a week, every week, to train that year. That is when Wayne chose to say he is going to play seven, because he had never played seven until then. That is how he got to become a seven because Bennett wanted him to become a seven at school. Ben Hunt, at 18, after winning the Toyota Cup Player of the Year award. Hunt is finally in a position to permanently wear the No.7 jersey that Bennett earmarked him for seven years ago. After a 2013 season that was one of the most difficult of his career, falling behind Peter Wallace, Corey Norman and new recruit Scott Prince in the battle for a halves spot, Hunt can now see the light. All three positional rivals have left the club and former under-20s player of the year Hunt is left as the man to carry the Broncos forward. Hunt is so committed to the challenge that, for the first time, he tipped the training scales under-weight after giving up alcohol leading into Christmas. "It was a bit frustrating at times last year," he said. "I wanted to be in the halves since I've been at the club and I was just getting frustrated last year more than any other years," he said. But the club did sign some other players and I know it made me want to work harder to be in those positions. This year, getting a full pre-season in the halves, hopefully I can just keep developing my game and become a consistent first-grade starter in the halfback position. I got in trouble (this month), I was a couple of kilograms under-weight. I don't think I've ever been told I was under-weight before - a couple of years ago I came back and was told I had to lose about six kilograms. I feel it's a good thing. I guess it's a sign I've lost fat and I just need to put back on muscle and get to a good weight. I've decided from the preseason to Christmas I was going to get off the drink for a while, just put the head down and get stuck into it. Raised in a town called Dingo, 90 minutes west of Rockhampton, Hunt enjoyed an active childhood. A thrill seeker who enjoyed riding motorbikes, horses and bulls, Hunt was about six when he had his first accident and slammed headfirst into a gum tree near a railway line. By 10 he was keen to ride bulls, until his dad put him on a "big one." "He thought he was a gun bull rider until then," Geoff laughed. That sorted him out, he didn't want to ride a second one. Growing up in the country Hunt learnt the value of a hard day's work. After school usually was a trip to the family's 320 hectare 800 acre property to build and repair fences, a chore Ben still has when he travels home for holidays in his "off-season." "I think last time he came home we cemented 70 posts in and he mixed all of it by hand in the mixer," Geoff said. I got my worth out of him. This off-season, there was a difference. Ben awoke every day with a spring in his step for a morning training session and kept to a strict diet. "I've never seen him so committed," Geoff said. I know he has been doing a lot of extras ... myself and my wife could notice the difference, how much more committed and intense he was. It was another year of high drama for the NRL, with the ASADA scandal and the off-field woes of Ben Barba and Blake Ferguson headlining a dramatic year for the code. As much as Ben gained a strong work ethic on the farm, nothing could have prepared him for life as a Bronco. A regional sprint champion in his younger years, Hunt was told he was too slow on his first camp with the Broncos. At 14, he got the chance to join first-grade training and finished doubled over in exhaustion with Shaun Berrigan in his ear. It was a pretty big shock really, the first time I got asked to go to a camp. I didn't really know what it was or what to expect," he said. I was just in awe ... We trained one session with the first-grade squad and it was the best thing I've ever done in my life. I was so grateful just to get that opportunity to do that. We ended up doing the conditioning session with first grade and we had to jump into the back end of it. We were about halfway through the bit we had to do and were missing lines and Shaun Berrigan absolutely sprayed us, he just unloaded. I thought 'geez I don't want to be part of this any more'. Nearly a decade since that camp, Hunt is one of the leaders at Broncos training, setting the pace whilst Brisbane's World Cup heroes were away. He has had a rollercoaster run but only needs to look at good mates Jharal Yow Yeh or Jordan Kahu, and their struggles with injury, to realise how fortunate he has been. Barring injury, Hunt will play his 100th NRL game next year and will ideally lead the Broncos back to the finals after their worst season. "I've been extremely lucky - a lot of times there I shouldn't have been in the team, I wasn't playing good football," he said. Hopefully this year I can take it to another level.