We continue our interview with Alan Hunte about his playing career and this week he talks about his time at Warrington and Salford and his international career.
Part one of this interview, covering his time with Wakefield, St Helens and Hull, can be read here.
What are your memories of playing with Allan Langer and Tawera Nikau at Warrington?
I signed for less money, but I got a three-year deal at Warrington. Darryl van de Velde scared me a little bit. He wanted to sign me when he coached Castleford and I was at Wakefield and I just remember these massive hands. Ten years later, I wasn’t quite so scared, but he still had an aura! They had finished below Hull in 1998, but they were going places with the new ground coming up. Toa Kohe-Love scored tries for fun in 1999, but I wasn’t far behind. We improved a lot, and then they signed Langer, Nikau and Andrew Gee for the 2000 season. I just thought I’ll believe that when I see it. Four weeks later, I was in the stands at St Helens with Alfie watching a play-off game against Castleford! I’d played against him in the 1994 Ashes, and I’d had a beer with him. He was a top bloke, a real laugh. His skills were undoubted. I didn’t care what he was being paid because it was great to play with him. He didn’t mind a beer, but he was very professional, and he was serious on game days. Tawera was also a big shock. I’d just watched him in the NRL Grand Final, and I still don’t understand how he didn’t win man of the match. He was an incredible player. It was special to play with those players.
We had some great days but we just didn’t have the consistency. Danny Nutley was superb, and he became a State of Origin player. Toa was great. Lee Briers was already a prodigious talent. We had some serious firepower. We beat Bradford in an amazing game in 2000 after they had a big lead. We blew Wigan, Saints and Leeds away too. I scored my 250th try and 1000th point at Warrington, and I have many happy memories, but they wouldn’t renegotiate after three years, so I went to Salford on terrible money, but I just wanted to keep playing!
You had two seasons with Salford, during which you experienced relegation and promotion.
Relegation was horrible. I’d gone extended periods without a win at Hull, so I had some experience of being at the wrong end of the table. My body felt great at the start of the year, but it was broken at the end. My training was a light captain’s run. Then I’d play and take days to recover. It was really hard. I had my knee washed out in pre-season when I signed for them. I came off injured in the first game and missed the next. I was swimming upstream in the first half of the season and then had an absolute shocker against Leeds and got the shepherd’s hook. Rightly so! I was drowning. Steve McCormack dropped me. I didn’t say anything. He got sacked and Steve Simms took over. Halfway through the season, I still hadn’t scored a try. I was really struggling. I’d knocked Salford out of the Challenge Cup with a late try for Warrington in a BBC game, so I wasn’t endeared to the fans anyway! I had three weeks off, and my body got a bit better. We lost at Hull, but I scored. Karl Harrison came in and I wasn’t an automatic pick. My last Super League game was at Warrington, and I scored two. I got injured going for my hat-trick. I wasn’t fit for the last game, which we had to win to stay up. We ran Castleford close, but we went down. Contracts were torn up. The club had to adjust for life in the National League.
Were you tempted to leave?
No! I felt an obligation to put things right and help them get promoted. I wanted to be part of that. It was the best decision I ever made because it was one of the most joyous seasons I ever had in the game. I felt healthier. Both knees were washed out in pre-season, and I was running pain-free for the first time in 12 months. I enjoyed playing for Rhino. I was on the coaching staff, assisting with the Academy. Leigh were going to be our nearest competitors. Rhino would get so nervous before we played them! We played them seven times that season, including the Arriva Trains Cup, the league and the play-offs.
One memory I have is beating Gateshead in the Arriva by 90 and then 100 in our two games. It was hard seeing the Gateshead players trudge off the field and I got nothing from those games, but I got a lot out of seeing Karl Fitzpatrick come into the team and score his first try. It meant so much to him. We called him the wasp because he was everywhere. His story is phenomenal, and he’s now the CEO of a big club.
My last match was against Leigh in the Grand Final. Beating them and winning promotion was a lovely way to go out as player. If you’re lucky, you get to retire on your terms, and I always had that understanding. I ended up staying 14 years at Salford, which is the longest I was anywhere. I coached players like Stefan Ratchford, Mark Sneyd and Jordan Turner.
You won 15 Great Britain caps.
When I was young, my dentist in Wakefield was Jim Bowden, who went on the 1954 Lions Tour. He had the tour photo up in his surgery, the panoramic one they always used to take. I used to stare at it and dreamed of being in a photo like that one day. I thought I had a chance of touring in 1990, but I was disappointed with my form at the end of the season. Some younger kids were selected because there had been quite a few withdrawals, but I didn’t deserve to go in the end.
I scored on my Great Britain debut against France in March 1992 and then I went on the Lions Tour with players like Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah, Shaun Edwards, Andy Gregory and Garry Schofield. We had an abundance of talent that was up there with the best in the world. I was 21, so still young, but more than confident against these guys at club level. Spending time with them and getting to know them personally was great. A Lions Tour is the best tour you can go on. The BARLA one was wonderful, but this was the absolute peak.
My second cap was the 1992 World Cup Final. I was immensely proud, but unfortunately our sport doesn’t get the coverage it deserves for something so big. It was such a close game too. I made a big mistake, which gave them the ball. It didn’t lead to the try straightaway. When Australia dropped the ball, they dug their way out of trouble. We did that earlier in the game too. But in Australia’s next set, we couldn’t defend it. It was a great ball from Kevvie Walters and a great run from Steve Renouf. That was all that was in it.
You started all three of the 1994 Ashes Tests.
We knew we were capable of winning. Ellery was a great coach. He was still a player at Leeds, and he had the respect of every player. I was top of the tryscoring charts playing on the wing. I knew Martin would be on the left wing, so I thought it would be between Jason Robinson and me for the right. When Ellery read out, “number two Jason Robinson,” I was crushed and stopped listening. When he finished, Gary Connolly congratulated me. I’d missed hearing my name read out as the number four! Ellery told me he had to select me because of my form, which was great to hear. Chris Joynt was also out of position at prop, but it worked at Wembley. We did a decent job in the series, but we missed Jiffy after he got injured at Wembley. His try that day was incredible. Everyone on the pitch was capable of brilliance at club level, but only few can do that in a Test match at Wembley. Brett Mullins and I got into a bit of pushing and shoving at the play-the-ball before the try. Brett almost got back in time to tackle Jiffy, but not quite, so I like to think the try was down to me!
How do you look back on the 1996 Lions Tour? You were in great form personally, but the tour ended up with players being sent home to save the RFL some money.
That was a shambles. We looked after each other at Saints, so we couldn’t believe it when that happened. There weren’t many in 1996 who had toured before – just Bobbie, Daryl, Denis and me. We started well in Papua New Guinea and Fiji. We should have won the first Test in New Zealand. Keith Senior became an excellent player, but he came on as a sub at centre and got lost a couple of times, and John Timu scored two late tries. The second Test was really close as well. Sending players home didn’t sit right with us. They should have found a way for that not to happen. Jimmy Lowes was one of the players and he went on to win the Man of Steel the next season. He was probably the most experienced player sent home and he was in disbelief.
Playing for your country is the biggest honour and I was selected again in each of the games against Australia in 1997. I thought I had a decent series. We went into the decider at 1-1, as had been the case in 1994 and 1992 when I’d been into the squad. We knew we’d go down in history if we won, but it wasn’t to be. Mal, Ellery, Phil Larder and Andy Goodway all selected me for Great Britain, and that’s a great honour.
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