For years Ben Hunt's infamous 2015 NRL grand final drop weighed on his soul - now he says he can look back and laugh.
The St George Illawarra halfback was the subject was jeers and Bronx cheers after dropping a Patrick Herbert drop out which opened the door for the Warriors to snatch a 26-18 victory at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
Before the ball hit the ground, a wry smile shot across his face.
He knew what was coming before he was hit by a wave of taunts and heckles.
"I knew it coming. As soon as I bobbled it, I heard the crowd erupt," Hunt said.
"It's funny to me. I've found way to deal with those things and it's just a bit of a funny thing."
Whatever he does for the rest of his career, Hunt will always be associated with his golden point high ball blunder from the 2015 grand final which allowed North Queensland's Johnathan Thurston to sink Brisbane in arguably the greatest decider of all time.
He was similarly subjected to abuse when he botched a regulation catch against the Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval last year.
For a long time, he was tormented by the incident and last year revealed he had sought professional help to deal with his mental demons.
He said he was now able to look back and laugh, and refused to let it define him.
"I just thought here we go again," Hunt said.
"I've found way to get over that, we know it's happened before. That didn't even bother me, I was more worried about how I played for the rest of the game to be honest.
"I was disappointed with my second half, I let the team down a bit."
Asked if he was still haunted by his grand final drop, Hunt said: "The only time I think about it is when I play the Cowboys.
"That's the time it comes creeping into my mind.
"I catch hundreds of balls every year it's not something I really think about. As soon as I dropped it I thought 'here we go again, the crowd's going to enjoy this'."
