Brought in on a three-year deal along with star trio Jarome Luai, Sunia Turuva and Terrell May, expectations were high for Hunt following his arrival from the Cronulla Sharks.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n
WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n
However, the front-rower endured a tough period during his first few months with the club, which saw his standards drop and he eventually found himself axed to reserve-grade.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me it was a big wake-up call. I knew the games leading up to it I wasn\u2019t up to my standard and I didn\u2019t want to let the team down in any way,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably better for me to go and play Cup and get my body right, get my head right and get all the little niggles in my body and try and heal them.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on this moment, Hunt revealed that head coach Benji Marshall reached out to him and asked the prop to come in for a conversation about his form.<\/p>\n
It was during this discussion that Hunt admitted that the responsibility ultimately fell on him and asked to be dropped to play in the NSW Cup to get his fitness back up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe messaged me. He said go up and have a chat to him and for me, I was dropped because of me,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n
Benji’s law: “There’s the f***ing door!” | 01:27<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t really put it on me too much but for me I knew it was my standards and I just said I have to play games at Cup and try and get my fitness back and my standards back up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just felt tired, I don\u2019t know why. I had to really sit back and have a look at why my standards were dropping and I wasn\u2019t doing what I was supposed to be doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that conversation with Benji was a good one and spent a few weeks down in Cup and then came back up and had a bit of a chip on my shoulder, so finished the year off in decent shape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Royce Hunt is looking to reclaim the form that made him a Samoan international.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Now entering a new season, the six-time Samoan international is looking to reclaim the form that saw him be one of the most feared forwards in the NRL and feels rejuvenated after losing several kilos off-season.<\/p>\n
This comes after he trained nearly every day with former Cronulla Sharks teammates Chris Vea\u2019ila, Oregon Kaufusi, Sione Katoa and Siosifa Talakai.<\/p>\n
He also spent plenty of time during Pilates with his wife, who he credits as the one who helped him the most, especially when it comes to navigating the ups and downs of his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s been there from the start,\u201d Hunt added.<\/p>\n
Pezet stars as Eels down Broncos | 02:44<\/p>\n
\u201cBeen with her since I was 16 so she\u2019s rode this whole rollercoaster with me and she knows the highs and lows that we go through and what we have to do every week.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s always there ready to get me prepared and talk to me and have those hard conversations with me. She\u2019s a massive part of why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Royce Hunt has revealed that a conversation with Benji Marshall proved to be the turning point after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,2652,214,5636,9689,101762,31686,5627,176190,144752,9499,62727,176189,176191,148954,2648,111,139,69,2659,34259,3654,39968,101718,176187,213,1734,24708,176188,176086,33815],"class_list":{"0":"post-327151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","10":"tag-bathurst","11":"tag-benji-marshall","12":"tag-brisbane","13":"tag-chris-vea","14":"tag-craig-fitzgibbon","15":"tag-cronulla-sharks","16":"tag-documentary-style-series","17":"tag-ethan-lee-chalk","18":"tag-getty-images-inc","19":"tag-head-coach","20":"tag-johan-pezet","21":"tag-kilos-off-season","22":"tag-lee-chalk","23":"tag-new-south-wales","24":"tag-new-zealand","25":"tag-newzealand","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-oceania","28":"tag-pilates","29":"tag-queensland","30":"tag-rocky-start","31":"tag-royce-hunt","32":"tag-samoan-international","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-sydney","35":"tag-turning-point","36":"tag-ups-and-downs","37":"tag-wake-up-call","38":"tag-wests-tigers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}