The 29-year-old met with Tigers coach Benji Marshall at a local cafe in Padstow, and liked his vision. Jarome Luai, a fellow Samoan, is also bound for Concord next year and Dragons utility Jack Bird was spotted taking a tour of the Tigers’ facilities on Tuesday.
“I met Benji on Monday last week, and it moved really fast. It was pretty much done Tuesday. He was pretty cool. He said to me there were a lot of kids, and he wanted someone with experience to get to that next level.
Tiger Shark: Royce HuntCredit: Getty Images
“I told him, ‘I can help you with that’, and how at the Sharks we had built a good culture where the young boys weren’t afraid to ask for help, and they know ‘steel sharpens steel’. If they come for our spots every week, it makes the older boys better, the younger boys better, and it raises the overall standards at the club.
“He also spoke about me wanting to play more minutes, and I told him I’d earn every minute you give me.”
Hunt was given permission to test the market in June because of the abundance of middle forwards at Cronulla.
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After the Sharks added Addin Fonua-Blake to a pack that already featured Braden Hamlin-Uele, Tom Hazelton, Oregon Kaufusi, Toby Rudolf, Jack Williams and Jesse Colquhoun, Hunt was resigned to continuing his career elsewhere.
South Sydney showed brief interest, but the Tigers moved quickly following the departures of middle men Stefano Utoikamanu and Isaiah Papali’i, who play their last games on Friday at a packed Campbelltown Sports Stadium before linking with Melbourne and Penrith respectively.