Hunt will join the Dragons next year on a $6 million five-year deal making him one of the highest paid players in the game alongside Johnathan Thurston and Daly Cherry-Evans.   

Yet to win a title after dropping the ball from a golden point kick-off during the 2015 grand final which essentially handed the Cowboys victory, Ikin was critical of Hunt’s durability.

“He’s got some shortcomings in his game and probably at the top of the list is the fact he hasn’t developed as a game manager,” Ikin told Fox Sports.

“ ... If you look at the great game managers like Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston, they’re executing plays in the fifth minute to get an outcome in the 50th. Ben Hunt hasn’t learnt that.

“That’s why the Milford-Ben Hunt combination probably isn’t as well balanced as some of the other combinations across the competition.

“So when I hear the commentary around Ben Hunt going to the Dragons, and that he’s going to ease the burden of organisation on Gareth Widdop, I wonder if those people have been watching the same player.”

Labelling Hunt a “great running halfback”, Ikin said his management skills left a lot to be desired.

“He’s still struggling to manage a team and his kicking game isn’t anywhere near what the elite playmakers are capable of,” he said.

“If his prospective halves partner Gareth Widdop stays next year there could be a problem because both he and Ben Hunt seem to have lost their feel - that ability, in the moment, to go to the line, have multiple options and regularly pick the right one.

“Johnathan Thurston is the best in the code at that, whereas Hunt often makes mistakes when he goes to the line with more than one option in his head.

“The game looks complicated for him at the moment.”