‘Eight out of 10’: Dragons skipper Ben Hunt reveals pain of playing 71 minutes with a broken leg

Injured Dragons skipper Ben Hunt has opened up on the pain of playing 71 minutes of St George Illawarra’s win over the Sea Eagles with a broken leg.

Hunt suffered a fractured fibula early in the Dragons’ 38-12 Round 3 win, but played on after it was originally diagnosed as a calf cork.

The 31-year-old managed to lead his team to victory, but now faces four to six weeks on the sidelines and he revealed to The Sydney Morning Herald the extent of the pain he endured.

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“Everyone’s one-to-10 pain rating is different, but I’d give it a seven or eight,” Hunt told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“It really hurt but it wasn’t like, ‘get me off here’. A few people have asked me [how it felt]. I was hurting, but it was also manageable and I was trying to stay focused on the actual game.

“I could still put weight on it and get around reasonably well – I wasn’t flying, but I thought it was just bone bruising or a cork with some shooting pain down the calf.

“I had a little bone break in my ankle when I was younger, but it was nothing like this. I figured if I had broken my leg, I wouldn’t be able to stand on the leg at all.

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“The doctor put some numbing cream on it, then I got on the bike and sat on that nearly all of half-time to keep the legs ticking over. It wasn’t much fun running around in the second half.”

The injury is a huge blow for Hunt who was just starting to return to some of his best form under new coach Anthony Griffin, who he also worked with at the Broncos.

Hunt was man-of-the-match in a Round 2 win over the Cowboys and then helped lead the Dragons to fifth on the ladder with their win over Manly.

However Hunt will now have to watch Adam Clune fill his place for the next month at least as he plots a return to action in early May.

The Origin star revealed the only thing worse than the injury was the stick he got from his teammates before his correct diagnosis was finally revealed.

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“Trying to sleep on Friday night was rough, and when I went to recovery on Saturday morning all the boys were into me because they thought it was just a cork and I was on crutches,” Hunt said.

“Once I went for the scans they found the fracture. I’m in a moonboot now for a couple of weeks and basically have to keep the weight off.

“But I don’t need surgery and the timeframe they’ve given me to return is four to six weeks. There’s nothing we can do and we have to let it heal itself.

“It’s definitely a bugger because personally I felt like I was hitting my straps, and the boys were coming together really well, but that’s the way footy goes. Every team has their share of injuries. It’s my turn at the moment.”

The Dragons take on the Knights in Round 3 at McDonald Jones Stadium with a win potentially catapulting them into the top four if other results go their way.

Originally published as‘Eight out of 10’: Dragons skipper Ben Hunt reveals pain of playing 71 minutes with a broken leg

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