Cameron Smith had the 100% Footy live audience in stitches on Monday night when he accidentally took a swipe at Ben Hunt during an interview with the Broncos star.
Hunt was the hero in Sunday afternoon's dramatic 29-28 victory over the Raiders, nailing a late field goal in golden point to send Brisbane into a prelim final.
However, he got a humbling reminder of his dire tenure at St George Illawarra when asked by Smith what it was like to play in September once again.
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"For you mate, as a 35-year-old and getting towards the back-end of your career, it's been a bit of a dry spell for you as far as finals are concerned," Smith said.
The crowd and panel members all started to erupt with laughter as the Storm legend quickly realised what he just said.
"I'm not having a go, facts are facts," he said.
Paul Gallen couldn't help but take a cheeky swipe at Smith's own career.
"Hey Ben – we couldn't all play for the Melbourne Storm, sorry mate," Gallen said.
Once things settled down, the Broncos star conceded it had been a long time between drinks and that was a major part of why he returned to the club.
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"It has been a minute, but it was the reason I came back to the club," Hunt said.
"I believe we had a great roster here and I had a lot of belief in Madge [coach Michael Maguire] taking over. I wanted to come back and play finals at a club where it all began.
"Just to be out there the other night playing that game, whether we won or lost, I was super excited to be back playing finals footy. It's all coming together."
Hunt spent seven seasons donning the famous Red V, where he was the club's marquee man for his entire stint and also held the captaincy for multiple years.
During his time in Wollongong, the halfback was part of just one finals series.
Now back where his NRL journey started 16 years ago, Hunt is willing to play any role necessary to help the Broncos end a nearly two-decade premiership drought.
"As you get older, you just focus on a game at a time and what you can do to help your team out and that's all I've been doing," he said.
"These last couple of months when I've gone into the halves, I just focus on my role and keep it simple and try to get the boys around the park.
"Everyone is doing their job … I've just got to do my part and not do anything crazy."
Hunt played in a grand final for Brisbane in 2015, where he famously dropped the kick off in extra time, allowing the Cowboys to seal a victory.
