Outgoing Dragons skipper Ben Hunt has revealed he did not hear from head coach Shane Flanagan during his exit from the club nor has he heard from him since.
Hunt said the situation at the Dragons had become so dire that he admitted he did not want to return to training with club.
Asked if it was hard to walk away from his $900,000-a-year contract, Hunt replied: “To be honest I didn’t think about it … it wasn’t the main thing I thought about … it was just time.”
While Hunt did not hear from Flanagan at the end, he said had never had a major issue with the coach. But given Flanagan’s silence it now seems there could be a problem.
“My final conversations with the club were with [CEO] Ryan Webb and [general manager of football] Ben Haran,” said Hunt when asked about the role Flanagan played in his departure.
Ben Hunt and the Dragons have agreed to a mutual termination of the rep star’s contract. Credit: Getty Images
“I haven’t heard from Shane and I guess that says something about where things are at, but I didn’t have a drama. It got to the point where something had to happen, and it’s true. I didn’t want to go back and train with a club in the pre-season.
“I knew my time was done. I feel relieved now that it’s over. I certainly feel like I put in for the club and contributed as much as I could. I was very invested and I think I played my best footy for the Dragons and I don’t agree with the idea that I was never invested in my time at the Dragons.
“I gave my all for the club and I hope that people can see that. It’s not how I wanted things to end, but that’s how it happened and now I’ve got the opportunity to further my career in coming weeks.”
Hunt added he was yet to entertain the thought of playing for a new club.
“I’ll worry about all of that after my Kangaroo commitments are done and I know it’s been said I will be returning to Queensland but that’s not necessarily the case,” he said.
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