Dragons bosses snub dinner to mark Ben Hunt’s 300th game celebrations

• Dragons board members skipped celebratory dinner for Ben Hunt
• Veteran halfback played his 300th NRL game on Saturday night
• The Dragons are 16th on the ladder with two wins and eight losses 

St George Illawarra’s off-field woes took a bizarre fresh turn last week, when club officials reportedly snubbed a dinner organised to celebrate Ben Hunt’s 300th NRL game.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Dragons chief executive Ryan Webb and chairman Andrew Lancaster did not show up to the event at Royal Pines resort on the Gold Coast as did all the other board members.

Hunt and his teammates are said to have been unimpressed by the snub.

Dragons coach Anthony Griffin attended the event, as did Broncos coach Kevin Walters and some of Hunt’s former teammates in Brisbane. 

The star halfback’s wife and kids attended the reception and were joined by Hunt’s parents, who drove down to the Gold Coast from Emerald, in Queensland’s Central Highland Region.

Hunt played his 300th NRL game as the Dragons lost to 42-22 to the Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday night, leaving them 16th on the ladder with a 2-8 record.

The snub is particularly significant as it comes seven months after Hunt, along with Zac Lomax and Michael Molo was one of only three Dragons player to attend the club’s end-of-the-season awards night.

Hunt admitted he felt the poor showing felt ‘disrespectful’, but Webb insisted a number of players were already on annual leave when the event was held. 

The botched awards night last season, was followed by a litany of embarrassing off-field indiscretions for St George. 

In December, Talatau Amone and Zac Lomax were involved in a training ground bust-up during a three-day camp in Mollymook, on New South Wales’ south coast.

The pair had to be separated after Amone was pushed off the mark by Lomax, sparking a melee.

A month later, Amone one was stood down by St George after the club implemented its no-fault notice following his alleged hammer attack on a tradie, before being eventually cleared by the NRL in March.

In February, meanwhile, Mikaele Ravalawa and Zane Musgrove had to be reportedly separated following a ‘heated exchange’ outside the team hotel in Mudgee following a Charity Shield loss against the Rabbitohs.

All the above has unfolded, while Griffin’s future at the club has been under scrutiny since the start of the season. 

And last week, he bizarrely ordered his players and staff to get together and have a drink after losing 18-16 to the Tigers. 

Griffin told his staff to go to his room while the players were told to go to Hunt’s room, after hotel staff informed the team that they were not allowed to drink alcohol in the common room.

Speaking in February, however, Hunt dismisses any criticism of the culture of the club.

‘I really don’t have a problem with the culture here,’ the Queenslander told Channel 9.

‘There’s obviously something that happened with a couple of individuals that the club is working on and working with those guys to help them out. 

‘On a whole, I don’t think there’s a culture problem.’