The man from the Western Australia gold fields provided a gem of a try for the Wests Tigers in front of a raucous Leichhardt Oval crowd on Thursday night.
Royce Hunt’s 40-metre charging run through the middle of the Raiders for his second try in 2026 also fired a warning shot to his old club Cronulla and produced food-for-thought for Samoan selectors on what the prop might be able to conjure at World Cup time.
Kalgoorlie-born Hunt will play his 99th NRL game in Round 9 against the Sharks at the ground he spent five years at – Ocean Protect Stadium.
“The texts will start flying after that try,” Hunt told NRL.com after the 33-14 win over the Raiders.
“And I imagine they’ll keep coming thick and fast all week.”
In his second year at the joint venture, Hunt already is 1-0 up after Wests Tigers enjoyed a 20-18 win over the Sharks in round eight last season.
Marvel at this Royce Hunt footwork!
“They’ll be coming for me but I’m already one-up against them and told them they’ll have to work hard to stop me getting to two-nil," he said.
No-one could stop Hunt last night as he latched onto a short pass from his lock Alex Twal just inside the 40-metre line.
“Alex was the man. He finally passed to me and we get through,” Hunt laughed.
“We’ve been practising that a lot so I’m glad it actually came out in a game.”
Hunt didn’t look for support – he just went for the northern end of Leichhardt Oval like a freight train.
Weekes with a tackle for the ages!
“I’m a front-rower. I can only see the line - I don’t see either side of me,” he said.
“I only saw one person in front of me and I knew I just had to beat them.”
That unlucky soul was fullback Kaeo Weekes, who had saved a try minutes earlier when he wrapped up Adam Doueihi with a classic ball-and-all tackle.
But Sharks defenders will have more to worry about than just Hunt, as the Wests Tigers forwards are flushed with skill.
Exhibit ‘A’ would be Samuela Finau’s around-the-corner pass for Doueihi’s second try against Canberra.
“Samuela’s pass will be in anyone’s highlights. Our whole forward pack frankly is doing well,” Hunt said.
“Alex Twal played 80 (minutes) and got some good numbers so he might be eligible alongside Terrell (May) for an Origin jersey,” he said of Twal’s 22 runs for 178 metres, a try assist and 57 tackles.
“Terrell has been in that conversation for two years now, so hopefully one of them gets a crack. Have they seen Terrell’s numbers the past few games?" he said.
Terrell May Try
If not, here they are: for the past three weeks May has topped 200 running metres – 224 against the Knights, 236 against the Broncos and 201 against the Raiders.
He had 16 tackle-breaks across those three games, and three line-breaks.
It’s providing inspiration for his Wests Tigers teammates and making training and playing as a group more enjoyable.
“It’s such a nice vibe around the place,” Hunt said. “The boys definitely enjoy being around each other and that means we enjoy our footy too.
“We’re happy with how we’re going. There’s still always improvements to be made but we’ll take it win by win.”
Adam Doueihi dominates
For Hunt personally, as he closes in on 100 NRL games – to add to his 98 in NSW Cup – he’s quick to point to what’s different for him this year.
“About seven kilos different, and that’s quite a difference. My knees feel good and for once I had a decent pre-season – my first good one in a few years," he said.
“It’s good to get a full pre-season in. I feel so much better for it.”
