Ben Hunt admits he “should have been better” on Wednesday night but is now preparing to don the No.6 for Queensland in just his fifth game in the halves in five months.

Wednesday night’s heavy loss to NSW has exacerbated pressure on the St George Illawarra halfback who could step in to replace Cameron Munster in Game III in Brisbane.

The Maroons utility has spent the 2020 NRL season fighting for his spot in the Dragons’ halves but was shifted to the bench and dummy half as he battled to find form.

With a State of Origin series on the line at Suncorp Stadium, Hunt will spend the week training at five-eighth should Munster be ruled out with concussion.

“We’ll assess how Munny is and have a look at that but I think I’ll be preparing to play a bit of six as well as the other roles I’ve been playing,” he said.

“This week’s prep for me is going to be a big one.”

It will be the first time in Queensland camp Hunt has trained in the halves despite wearing the No.14 jersey as a utility.

The 30-year-old was thrown in to cover Munster after just two minutes when he was ruled out of Wednesday night’s game after a heavy knock.

Showing his trademark brutal honesty, Hunt admitted he wasn’t up to scratch.

His left-edge combination with Felise Kaufusi looked confused in defence, missing seven tackles as NSW ran tree tries around them.

Hunt said the shock of Munster’s injury and his lack of preparation in the halves contributed to the performance.

“It’s a really different role but it’s one that I’ve played a lot of in the past and through my career so I should have been better than I was tonight I think,” he said.

“There’s no excuses for that but at the same time I wasn’t really preparing to play there.

“It was a bit of a shock, it’s obviously not ideal losing one of your star halves in a game but I was put in there to do a job and I was a bit off the pace.

“I wasn’t really expecting to go in there and I was preparing for something else. I’ll be looking at next week and prepare to be anywhere.”