Hunt proud of transition to specialist hooker for 'Roos

Ben Hunt is proud that he has been able to shrug off the utility tag at representative level and be selected for Australia as a specialist hooker.

It is not Hunt’s preferred position to play week-in and week-out, but he has this season established himself in the No.9 jersey at Origin and Test level and will start at hooker in the opening World Cup match against Fiji.

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga admitted at Friday’s captain’s run that Penrith’s Api Koroisau had only narrowly missed a spot in his squad, but the selectors decided to pick just two hookers – Hunt and Harry Grant.

Previously the Dragons captain would have been considered as a utility who can provide cover for the halves and play dummy-half, but Meninga will adopt Queensland’s formula of Hunt at hooker and Grant playing off the bench.

When Grant came on, Maroons coach Billy Slater would shift Hunt to a roaming role and he produced the winning play in the deciding Origin after scoring a 70-metre intercept try.

“This year in Origin, before I was picked, I was adamant that Harry was going to be the starting hooker and I was just hopeful to get picked for that utility role,” Hunt said.

“For Billy to have the faith in me to start at hooker gave me a lot of confidence and I feel good about it. That is something I am really proud of.

“I never played it as a junior, I was always a halfback, and at the Broncos I sort of got forced into the role a bit and I didn’t overly enjoy it, but at the same time I was grateful to be playing NRL so I was happy to do it.

“It is quite amazing how it has helped me and worked out the way it has.”

The Headingley Stadium clash will be the first time in Hunt’s seven Test career for Australia that he has started and the 32-year-old admits that during the 2017 World Cup he only got a run to give skipper Cameron Smith a spell.

“I am really proud that I have established myself as a rep player now in that hooker role,” Hunt said.

“With just me and Harry, there is no hiding that it is going to be one of us starting, and the other one may be on the bench or Mal may rotate us in games. The good thing is I know I am going to get some game time.

“I just wanted to be in the team to be honest. I don’t care where I play. I’ve always made it clear that I want to play No.7 at club level, that’s where I enjoy playing, but when it comes to rep footy it really doesn’t matter.

“It is obviously more demanding physically but it’s simple and you have good players around you so I really enjoy playing hooker at rep level.”

Hunt will again go head-to-head with Koroisau and he predicted the three-times premiership winner would be Fiji’s danger man in the opening World Cup clash.

“I think Api is going to be their main ball player and he will control things,” Hunt said. “They have got some good forwards and big outside backs so I think it is going to be a good first game for us to see how we are going.”

Meninga has told his players not to ready too much into Fiji’s 50-0 humbling by England in last weekend’s World Cup warm-up match and is expecting a physical contest.

"Api is a great player, [Viliame] Kikau is a great player, they have got some great players playing for their team," Meninga said.

"Api was very close [to Kangaroos selection], he was certainly in our latest conversations but we chose to go another way and now he gets the chance to play for his ancestral nation and will be a very dangerous player to play against."